Mark Sumpter took two podium finishes in the eighth round of the Michelin Porsche Cup at Snetterton.

In a pair of action-packed races run in scorching temperatures, the driver from Five Ashes in East Sussex raced hard to take a brace of third places.

More importantly, the weekend points haul took the Paragon Porsche/Ultrafilter International-backed car to within seven points of championship leader Mark Cole.

Sumpter posted the fourth best time in Saturday's qualifying session, moving up from fifth when Cole's time was disallowed after his car was adjudged to be underweight.

The sprint race proved to be a thriller with Sumpter battling through to finish on the podium after an enthralling 14 laps.

Off the grid, Sumpter dropped back to sixth but a brave move at the end of the main straight on the opening lap lifted him back up to fourth place.

He continued in pursuit of the leading three and grabbed his chance when Adrian Slater ran wide at Riches on lap nine. That ensured a third place finish, ahead of rival Cole.

The feature race was even more thrilling with the best of the action coming on the last lap.

Cole dived through into fourth place at Sear Corner but going into the last corner of the race Cole hit the back of Luke Stevens and they both spun. Sumpter had to brake hard to avoid getting involved but picked his way through the confusion to take third.

With Cole excluded from the results for the incident with Stevens, Sumpter was able to make up more points. The action continues at Knockhill near Dunfermline next weekend.