Delighted Neal celebrates 50th BTCC win

A delighted Matt Neal said his 50th British Touring Car Championship victory felt “as good as the first”.

The Honda Racing Team driver took the flag at Thruxton after the final lap puncture for Andrew Jordan, and moved ahead of the Eurotech Racing driver in the standings as a result.

He is now 10 points behind Triple Eight MG’s Jason Plato going into the second race of the day.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Neal said: “It feels really good – as good as the first. I’m chuffed to bits with it.

“I’m sure he [Andrew] will be feeling pretty raw because he’d done a great job to that point with 36kg on board. He was just too quick for me through the fast stuff and got a wee bit of a gap.

“With about four or five laps to go I managed to pull him in, and the tyres started to feel like they were melting. I thought ‘is that him taking it easy, or is that him struggling with the tyres?’.

“You never know round here, which we’ve just proved.”

Neal said he was also delighted to take a win on the ultra-fast Hampshire track.

He said: “It is one I love, but historically it’s not been a happy hunting ground for me. I haven’t got a load of wins here, like at Brands or Donington. So it’s nice to add that one to the tally.”