The Halfords sponsored Team Dynamics British Touring Car team scored an incredible victory last Sunday, 2nd October when they won the 2005 BTCC team title and the Drivers' Championship in an action packed day at Brands Hatch.

In true David versus Goliath battle style Team Halfords lifted the title from under the noses of the big manufacturers such as Vauxhall and Seat. This is the first time for 15 years that an independent team has won the title.

Driver Matt Neal is also now the British Touring Car Champion, after a remarkable season tussling with the likes of past champions Yvan Muller and Jason Plato.

Halfords' champion Neal took a fourth place in the first race of three and then a third place in the second race, clinching his title from rival Yvan Muller with a podium spot. Neal went on to score a fifth place in the third and final race of the day to end the year with 316 points to 2003 Champion Yvan Muller's 273.

Neal arrived at Brands Hatch with a thirty point lead in the championship, but well aware that anything could happen in motorsport, and nothing could be considered as a forgone conclusion.

Like so many times this year Neal found himself fighting for the same piece of track with championship rival Yvan Muller in the first race of the day at Brands Hatch. Muller, in the manufacturer backed VX Racing Astra, was slower than the sprightly Dan Eaves up ahead in his Team Halfords Integra but try though he may, Matt could not find a safe way past, so he concentrated on the points a strong finish would bring.

"I wanted to get a good points finish in the bag," explains Neal. "I wanted to keep Yvan honest and put him under some pressure and see if he was going to make a mistake but he wasn't going to do that, and when Plato came into the mix later on I wasn't going to get tangled with him."

The race was won in emphatic fashion by Neal's team-mate Dan Eaves to take Dan's fifth race win of 2005, coming a day after setting his first pole position in the championship. Dan led Muller, Plato and Neal across the line, Matt having conceded a place to Plato late on in the race.

"It was a great race the first one, I was pleased to do that and put myself up to five wins from the season," said Dan of his win, which involved a restart after a safety car period. "I think the two behind were napping on the restart; that gave me a three car lead and that was that."

Race two saw Dan once more in the lead but a rare mistake saw 2001 champion Jason Plato take advantage and Eaves lead team-mate Neal across the line for a team Halfords two-three.

"I backed off because of the oil flags early in the race, but it was only water or washer fluid," explained Eaves afterwards. "But it let Plato get with me and I picked up one of the bumps at Westfield, under steered a bit wide and had to back-off, and Plato was through."

Behind Dan Matt had been embroiled in an epic dice with rival Yvan Muller as the pair drove wheel to wheel. "The team just told me to stay out of trouble, but I don't think I read the script," quipped Neal afterwards. "I was with Muller again and he started to show a few chinks in his armour. We ended up having a bit of a wheel bashing session along the main straight - it was quite exciting but he got a puncture which meant that was it, game over."

The third race it was an early exit for Dan Eaves as he was tipped from behind by Yvan Muller and launched into a spin which would ultimately eliminate Dan, Muller and Jason Plato from the action. Dan's chances of taking second in the champion disappeared in a matter of moments and he finished a mere four points adrift of his French rival. Matt meanwhile came home in fifth place.

"It certainly ended with a bang," said Eaves of the dramatic crash. "Not the sort of bang I was expecting!"

Team Halfords third driver, Gareth Howell had an eventful race day with a fifth and two fourths on track, though ultimately he was to be disqualified from the second race of the day due to contact on track. "It was a very up and down day," said Howell of his races. "I had my work cut out over the three races but the main task was for Matt to win the championship which he did, we're all so happy for him."

So, what does Neal make of his new champion status? "It hasn't really sunk in yet, it's quite surreal," he said late at the track on Sunday night. "It's a great feeling, a really great feeling. We're not a massive team, we've done it together, and it's not one person who's won it, we've all won it."