Two Honda Racing drivers will be battling it out for third place in the final round of the 2003 British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park.

Alan Morrison took second place in round 19 and now has chance to pip teammate Matt Neal to the bronze position in round 20.

In round 19 Morrison made a fantastic start to move up from sixth to second going into the first corner and held his position throughout the race. He will start the second race from the front row of the grid but his car will be the heaviest of the three Honda Civic Type Rs.

Morrison will face some tough competition from Neal, who is equally determined to secure third in the championship. He started race one from the second row of the grid but struggled with a slight misfire right from the first corner which enabled Anthony Reid to pass him and move up into third on lap two. But Neal did not give up easily and the race turned into an epic struggle between Neal and the two MGs of Anthony Reid and Colin Turkington.

The third Honda Civic Type R of Tom Chilton was out of the race on lap three after an altercation with two Peugeots, resulting in all three cars ending up in the gravel. The safety car came out and stayed on the course until lap eight when all three of the stranded cars were removed.

Neal was the first of the remaining two Hondas into the pits on lap 11. He made an excellent stop but luck was definitely not on his side. He returned to the track in sixth place right behind Anthony Reid, but made a mistake after tangling with Boardman and ended up in seventh place at the end of the pit stop window. He managed to move up to sixth with five laps remaining but technical problems with the car eventually got the better of him and he had to be content with crossing the line in 12th.

Matt Neal: “I’m very disappointed not to have wrapped up third place (in the championship) after race one. I was struggling with a misfire right from the first corner and that made things really difficult. After the pit stop I made a mistake and locked the brakes, that lost me a couple of places.

“It was definitely a very eventful race. I’m hopeful for race two because the car will be nice and light, but I will be starting from well down the grid.”

Alan Morrison: “I didn’t realise I had a chance of third place until after the race. Obviously I’d be delighted with that but I’ll be just as happy for Matt if he takes it. The most important thing is a good result for Honda Racing.

“I won the final race of the season last year and it would be good to do that again and end the season on a high. I’ll be starting the second race from the front row but my car will be a lot heavier this time.”

Tom Chilton: “I’ve been struggling all day and I didn’t know if I’d be well enough to race this morning. As it turned out I was out of the race on lap three which is a shame because the car felt really good. I will be starting race two but I’ll be right at the back so I’ll just have to do the best I can.”