Donington Premiere Review

Team Halfords’ Matt Neal, driving a Honda Integra, has won the first of today’s opening three races of the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Donington Park, Leics. Neal, from Birmingham, dramatically lunged past long-time leader, VX Racing driver Yvan Muller’s Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch on the last lap to steal victory at his home track.

“The people in the workshop have worked seven days a week to make the car this good – this is a great way to repay them,” said Neal. “I had a bit of time to make up on Yvan so pushed like mad in the middle stages. When I got up to him I could see he wasn’t as good on the brakes so I went for it.”

Muller, who had burst through from third on the grid to lead at the start, ended the race with a bonus point for setting the fastest lap of one minute, 12.889 seconds – a new lap record.

Neal’s team-mate Dan Eaves also ended up on the podium, in third position after muscling past Muller’s team-mate Colin Turkington, who had started from pole position. In the end, Turkington also slipped to fifth after being passed by Rob Collard, in the WSR team’s MG ZS.

Jason Plato, the 2001 champion, was sixth in SEAT Sport UK’s Toledo Cupra, narrowly holding off team-mate Luke Hines and VXR’s Gavin Smith. SEAT’s James Pickford followed a distant ninth after recovering from a slow start.

After spening almost all night installing a new engine in his Fast-Tec team´s Vauxhall Astra Coupe, Mark Proctor, with just two hours´ sleep, came home in tenth to score a well-earned point on his BTCC debut.

Yvan Muller gave champion manufacturer Vauxhall’s new VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch its first win of the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car season, when he took victory in the second of the championship’s three races at Donington Park, Leicestershire today.

Muller held off a late attack from the WSR MG of Rob Collard to take an incredibly tight win – the gap between the two as they crossed the finish line was just 0.179 of a second.

Frenchman Muller, the 2003 champion, said: “I was thinking ‘bloody hell’ in the car – this is tough. Rob gave me a really hard time in the closing stages. This makes up for the first race when I was in first for a long time but got beaten by Matt. We were a bit down afterwards but have made some good changes.”

Collard, who got into second after passing race one winner Matt Neal, ended the race with the fastest lap of one minute, 13.229 seconds to earn a bonus point. The result is the first ever BTCC podium finish for Collard.

“That was a great race,” said Collard. “The MG had amazing pace – even more than I expected! Two more laps would have been nice to attack Yvan.”

Neal, in Team Halfords’ Honda Integra, finished third and his team-mate Dan Eaves fourth. Jason Plato, in SEAT Sport UK’s Toledo Cupra was fifth, closely followed by Vauxhall’s Gavin Smith. SEAT team-mates Luke Hines and James Pickford were next up.

Ninth, giving new BTCC squad HPI Racing with Friends Reunited its first points in the championship as the final classified finisher, was Richard Williams. Thanks to the BTCC’s race two-three top ten reversed grid rule, he will amazingly start the day’s third race from pole position in the team’s Lexus IS200!

Muller, meanwhile, will start ninth, with his Astra Sport Hatch carrying maximum success ballast. Collard will line up eighth, Neal seventh, Eaves sixth and Plato fifth, their cars also handicapped with additional weight.

Race three, being broadcast live nationwide on terrestrial television channel ITV1, is scheduled to start at 16.25.

Retiring from race two in the pit lane were Vauxhall´s Colin Turkington, Fast-Tec´s Mark Proctor and Synchro Motorsport´s James Kaye. Turkington, fastest in Saturday qualifying but only fifth in today´s opening race, saw his meeting go from bad to worse when he spun and damaged his car in a collision with Plato; Proctor called it a day after his Fast-Tec Vauxhall Astra Coupe ran off the track; Kaye managed just one lap after lating start following engine problems with his Honda Civic Type R.

Matt Neal and Dan Eaves led Team Halfords to a famous 1-2 victory in the third of today’s three opening races of the 2005 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park, Leicestershire.

SEAT Sport UK’s Jason Plato led the opening laps but in one fell swoop found his Toledo Cupra bullied back four places as Neal, Vauxhall’s Yvan Muller, Eaves and WSR’s Rob Collard swept by.

Eaves then overtook Muller’s VX Racing Astra Sport Hatch and chased team-mate Neal all the way to the chequered flag. Just 0.271 of a second separated their Honda Integras at the finish.

Muller, after resisting pressure from Collard’s MG ZS, followed home in third, but it is Neal, also the winner of the day’s first race, who leaves Donington with the championship lead ahead of the next round at Thruxton, Hampshire on 30 April-1 May. Muller, winner of today’s second race, is next in the standings chased by third-placed Eaves who earned a bonus point in race three for setting the fastest lap time.

In the BTCC’s Manufacturers Championship, Vauxhall leads SEAT, but in the Teams Championship it is Team Halfords on top, just ahead of VX Racing.

Neal said: “What a day. I’m overjoyed. Two wins, a 1-2 for the team and Team Halfords leading the championship … amazing results. I could make friends with anyone right now!”

Eaves added: “I got close to Matt and had a couple of looks but he was already on the limit. I also knew if I’d made a mistake and delayed us both then Yvan was close enough to capitalise. The team has worked hard for me – I wasn’t going to throw it away by doing something silly.”

Plato, meanwhile, later lost fifth position to VX Racing’s Gavin Smith. Seventh, right behind him, was SEAT team-mate James Pickford while Colin Turkington, in his Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, just fended off the Toledo Cupra of Luke Hines for eighth. Hines drove well to make up time following an opening lap excursion.

Mark Proctor, in Fast-Tec’s Vauxhall Astra Coupé, completed the top ten to earn another point on his BTCC debut. But there was heartache for Richard Williams in HPI Racing with Friends Reunited’s Lexus IS200 who lost his chance to start from pole position when a quick pit-stop at the end of the formation lap put him to the back of the field.

Synchro Motorsport driver James Kaye’s miserable weekend ended on the opening lap of the race when his Honda Civic Type R slid off the track.