Matt Neal secures maiden win for new Honda Civic

Matt Neal secured a first win for the new FK8 variant of the Honda Civic Type-R with a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race of the weekend at Thruxton.

Neal had qualified on pole position on Saturday afternoon but was aware that he faced a challenge when the lights went out because of the fact he had the fast-starting BMW of Colin Turkington alongside on the front row.

However, when the race got underway, Neal was able to stick with Turkington on the run up to the Complex and with the inside line, was able to maintain his position at the head of the field.

Rather than the race coming to to Turkington as some might have expected, Neal was instead able to control proceedings from the front and never came under serious pressure from the Northern Irishman behind as he clinched his first victory of the campaign.

Turkington followed him home in second place, whilst the podium was rounded out by Dan Cammish, who jumped up to third at the start and would then spend the whole 16 lap race running alone – unable to keep pace with the pair in front but clear of the pack behind.

That pack had been headed early on by Andrew Jordan, who vaulted up to fourth with a rocket start but would slip back behind the two Motorbase-run Fords of Sam Tordoff and Tom Chilton before the finish – Tordoff in particular finally managing to pick up a result to match his qualifying pace after a tough start to the year.

Jordan took sixth ahead of Senna Proctor’s Vauxhall, with Brett Smith finishing eighth after a disastrous start saw him plummet down the order when the lights went out.

Josh Cook and Chris Smiley rounded out the top ten.

For points leader Tom Ingram there would be disappointment as he retired after five laps with a loss of power on his Toyota Avensis, although the Speedworks man retains the points lead after Adam Morgan failed to make it up into the top ten.

Other retirements included Tom Boardman and Michael Caine after a clash at the final complex, whilst Jason Plato ran towards the rear of the field in his Subaru – which was fitted with a new engine overnight – before pulling into the pits to retire.