Matt Neal rues missed championship surge opportunity at Thruxton

Team Dynamics’ Matt Neal left Thruxton disappointed, despite a victory in the first race, after a minor technical glitch in Race 2 prevented him from following up with win #61, with the Honda Civic at its most competitive at the Hampshire circuit.

The three-time champion comfortably won Race 1 ahead of his team-mate Gordon Shedden, and was leading the second attempt at Race 2 until his power steering shut down at the end of the first lap.

“I just hit the kerb and it just knocked the power steering out,” said Neal to TouringCarTimes. “If I’d have known, I could have just switched it back on, but because of where we were on the track, I just came straight in. It could have been two out of two, and who knows what could have been in Race 3, as the car was great even with full weight. We set the fastest lap in Race 2 even with the 75kg of ballast.”

With West Surrey BMW drivers Rob Collard and Colin Turkington winning Races 2 and 3, it ended being a stronger weekend than expected for the factory BMW squad.

“I think Colin in the BMW is a problem for us, and for them to nick two wins off us at a Honda track is a bit galling,” added Neal. “We’ve got Croft and Knockhill coming up, and they’re both BMW circuits.”

Neal drove from 29th to tenth in Race 3, but was later relegated to 11th with a half-a-second penalty for straight-lining the chicane as he passed Power Maxed’s Tom Chilton, but was more frustrated with the future repercussions than the one point lost.

“The problem is I get a strike,” said Neal, referring to the driving infringements system where three strikes earn a driver a ten-place grid drop. “I don’t have any yet, but the problem is they can rack up and bite you later in the year.”

Neal is now seventh in the standings, 58 points behind Speedworks Toyota driver Tom Ingram, with 67 available at each race weekend.