Today’s first 35-lap British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit was won by Warren Hughes, with Yvan Muller and Colin Turkington completing the podium. Honda Racing’s Matt Neal produced a superb drive to finish fourth, despite carrying maximum ballast.

The Worcestershire driver made a great start from sixth on the grid, powering up to fourth place on the first lap. Throughout the early stages, he had to drive defensively to protect his position against the chasing cars of Colin Turkington and Paul O’Neill. However, Neal’s experience shone through as he was able to place his Honda Racing Civic Type R exactly where he wanted and use the significant engine power to drive out of the bends.

A great pit stop by Neal found himself in front of Vauxhall driver, James Thompson. Once all the pit stops had been made, Neal drove superbly to fend off challenges from Thompson and O’Neill for the remaining half of the race and hold on to fourth place, despite carrying the weight penalty. This would allow him to race a lighter Honda Civic Type R in the second race.

Tom Chilton, who lost his rear bumper during a passing manoeuvre with Rob Collard, finished in eighth place, while Alan Morrison, who, after an early drive-through penalty, was shunted off the track when Proton driver Phil Bennett misjudged a block passing manoeuvre in the early laps. He finished in 14th place.

Matt Neal: “That was great. I’m really happy to get up to fourth with full weight ahead of two lighter Vauxhalls. I had to work very hard for it – especially with that 66 kilos! We made a slight change to the car after qualifying and that worked out really well so now I’m looking forward to the second race. I’ll be 35 kilos lighter and the Vauxhalls will be heavier so I’m hoping to do well.”

Tom Chilton: “I thought I had a good start but I lost a couple of places because it was very crowded out there for the first few laps. I just tried to have a clean race and muscle my way through the field and actually led for one lap during the pit stops. I had some pretty good lap times so I’m optimistic for the second race – and I’ll be 21 kilos lighter.”

Alan Morrison: “I was just really unlucky again. I had a good start but it was all over for me as soon as I got punted off. I got a drive-through penalty for cutting the line and that didn’t help so I’ll just put that one behind me and concentrate on race two.”