'Double top' puts Neal in title race

BTCC: Honda celebrated a double victory in the second meeting of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Rockingham on Sunday and lead driver Matt Neal says the team has shown their title-winning credentials.

Matt Neal stormed to two dominant victories in the first and third race of the weekend in his Honda Civic to climb up to second place in the points race, just 17 adrift of the lead.

Neal, who had qualified on the front row for the opening race of the weekend, used his tactical nous to start the damp race on slick tyres and that paid immediate dividends as he lead all of the 16 laps. His performance was backed up by a superb drive from Honda Racing Team team-mate Gordon Shedden, who'd also opted for the dry weather settings. He scorched from seventh on the grid to follow Neal home and complete a one-two for the team.

Both Neal and Shedden were forced to carry success ballast in the second race of the weekend which meant it would be a tough race but an opening lap skirmish dropped them both back down the pack. Slight damage to both cars hampered the speed of both machines and restricted Neal to ninth place at the flag and Shedden to 13th after another clash with the BMW of Mat Jackson.

In the final encounter, Neal started from pole in the reversed grid ballot and disappeared into the distance as the pack scrapped behind. He crossed the line nearly six seconds clear of his rivals, which is a massive gap in the highly competitive BTCC. Shedden, meanwhile, was taken out of the race when rival Rob Collard drove him off the track after 12 laps causing extensive damage to his Civic.

Matt Neal - "This has been a great weekend for us, and the positive thing is that we have again learned a lot about the car. We've worked at how the car uses its tyres, which is crucial at abrasive tracks like Rockingham, and the car was the best I have ever known in the third race of the weekend. We've increased our knowledge, we've found more pace and we've taken two wins: it's almost the perfect weekend."

Gordon Shedden - "Overall this has been a frustrating weekend for me because I know we have a fast car as Matt has shown, but I was robbed of two chances to score points by collisions that were out of my control. Despite that, I think we've got a good base to build on from here."

Team principal Steve Neal - "We are pleased with the way the cars have performed here, and how we've learnt to adjust them for the demands of different tracks. We were fast at Thruxton at Easter, but now we've got more experience with the Civic, we are unlocking more and more pace from it. Matt's two wins weren't narrow: they were dominant. That shows that we are moving in the right direction in terms of set-ups and we have still got more pace to find."