Matt Neal disappointed not to win at Oulton Park

Matt Neal was left disappointed to come away from Oulton Park without a win, but showed strong pace in the Honda Civic as he made two trips to the podium.

The Honda Racing Team driver held the lead for much of the final race before getting caught out on oil in Lodge, dropping down to third after finishing second in race one and fourth in race two.

“I’m disappointed missing on the win really,” Neal told TouringCarTimes. “It was a gimme that was under control. I thought it was a puncture to start with but there was oil down at Lodge and I was the first one on the case. I thought it was a puncture because the rear just stepped out. You couldn’t see it under the trees but I figured out where it was and got my head back down, but the horse had bolted by that point.”

Neal comes away from Oulton Park in third in the championship, just eight points behind leader Jason Plato and five behind Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden. The three-time champion is also confident going to Croft for the next three races on the calendar, a circuit he loves driving in a car that he shares the same feelings for.

“Two, three, four for me isn’t a bad result, peppered the top spot but didn’t manage to get there,” he added. “I was hoping in that one but the car’s working great, we’re learning it all the time. There’s a few weeks to Croft, and I’m looking forward to it. I love Croft, I love the car. I love driving it, it’s an awesome piece of kit. I’m just looking forward to every weekend at the minute.”