Matt Neal wins incident-packed final race at Silverstone
Team Dynamics’ Matt Neal charged through the field from 12th to win a dramatic final race of the day at Silverstone, pipping long-time leader and series returnee Rob Huff, with the championship pendulum swinging back towards Ashley Sutton after a disastrous encounter for Colin Turkington.
Neal took advantage of a huge number of squabbles in front of him to pick off car after car in his Honda Civic Type-R, before finally passing Power Maxed Racing’s Huff on lap 21 of the extended 25-lap encounter after stalking the Vauxhall Astra for several laps.
Behind the top two, BTC Racing’s Dave Newsham drove superbly to take his team’s first podium ahead of Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram, who lost a chance of the win himself after contact with Huff on lap 14.
Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin and Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan were next up ahead of Chris Smiley, ensuring a double top 10 finish for BTC Racing, with the charging Andrew Jordan, Jack Goff and Mat Jackson rounding out the top 10.
Just outside the top 10 in 11th – and regaining the momentum in the title fight – was Team BMR’s Sutton, who carved his way through from the back of the grid after his penalty to extend his lead over West Surrey Racing’s Turkington to 10 points.
It was a race full of drama, with the die being cast on the first lap.
Huff got the best start and quickly jumped into the lead, while Gordon Shedden and Rob Austin made heavy contact into Copse and narrowly avoided being collected by the pack.
Meanwhile, Turkington’s race quickly began to unravel as a lurid slide at the end of the Wellington Straight saw him drop to 21st, and his recovery was over almost before it had begun.
Triple Eight Racing’s Josh Cook turned Team BMR’s Jason Plato around exiting Luffield on lap two, leading to carnage behind as cars scattered to try and avoid the spinning Subaru.
Team Parker Racing’s Stephen Jelley hit the anchors and was collected by Turkington, who sustained heavy front end damage and pitted, rejoining last with a battered car.
Jelley’s Ford Focus and Plato were joined on the sidelines by AmD Tuning’s Ollie Jackson, who was also caught up in the melee, and Team BMR’s Josh Price, who went off into the gravel under the safety car after contact from Matt Simpson.
After the restart, Morgan and Newsham staged a spectacular battle for third on lap 11, with Morgan prevailing, before a controversial moment on lap 14.
Huff, who had gamely held the lead from the start, put up a very strong defence against Ingram exiting Copse which saw the Toyoya Avensis slide across the grass and drop down to fifth.
On the next lap, Team Dynamics’ Shedden had a huge spin after contact with Austin into Becketts, with the marauding pack somehow avoiding the spinning Civic.
Neal, meanwhile, continued his serene progress and had advanced to second by lap 16, immediately catching Huff and applying the pressure over the next four laps. His persistence eventually paid off as he outdragged Huff into Becketts on lap 21.
Neal went on to beat Huff buy just over 0.7s, while Newsham battled back past Morgan to take the final podium spot.
Four drivers head into Brands Hatch in mathematical contention for the title – Sutton, Turkington, Shedden and Ingram. However, the last two are 66 and 67 points behind respectively, with a maximum of 67 to play for.
