Defending champion secures sixth win of the year

Defending champion Matt Neal has extended his lead in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship to 27 points after claiming a sixth win of the season at Snetterton.

Neal led the Team Halfords challenge at the Norfolk venue on a weekend that saw comeback kid Gareth Howell return at the wheel of the third Honda Integra, with Gareth and Gordon Shedden both claiming a pair of top ten finishes from the latest three rounds of the season.

Having qualified on the third row of the grid with maximum ballast on his car, Matt claimed a sixth place finish in the opening race despite an action packed 18 laps that included being turned into a spin by championship rival Colin Turkington at the Esses from which the champion managed to launch a fine recovery. With a lighter car for race two, Matt gradually worked his way up the order until he went second behind SEATs Jason Plato and with his head down, he closed down a gap of over six seconds to start the final lap on the tail of the leader. Matt went for the lead at the Bombhole only to be pushed into a slide which he did well to recover, and then dived down the inside into the final chicane. However more contact from the SEAT sent Matt into a spin, and while Plato went on to win, Matt was left fuming in eighth place.

Starting from the front row for the final race, Matt briefly dropped behind Tom Chilton at the start, but made light work of the VX Racing driver to reclaim the lead on lap three and was never troubled as he took the flag for a vital win to open up the gap to second placed Colin Turkington in the race for the championship.

"I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend at some point!" Matt said afterwards. "I hope I don't regret not sitting for second in race two as it was an easy pass on both occasions and I was sure there wasn't going to be any drama. I got outside Jason into the Bombhole and he drove into me, the fact that the Clerk of the Course found nothing wrong with it is something I find quite bizarre. I had a lucky draw with the cards in race three, the car was fantastic yet again and got me the win. It's been a tough weekend for us but we have managed to extend the lead and we can focus on the next round at Knockhill."

After his double victory at Donington Park, Flash was eager to continue a good run of form and recovered from a retirement in the first race to claim top ten finishes in both race two and race three. That retirement came in a race plagued by difficult weather conditions that left the team faced with a dilemma over what tyre combination to use, with the decision taken to put dry tyres on the front and wet tyres on the rear. Running well near the front of the pack, Gordon was one of a number of drivers to fall foul of the conditions, when, with the aid of a roaming Vauxhall, he was sent flying into the crops on the outside of the first corner. Despite starting near the back of the grid as a result, Gordon 'Flashed' through the field to take sixth in race two and went one place better in the final race of the day to take hard fought but valuable fifth place .

"You have highs and lows in motorsport," Gordon said. "The team made a great call with the tyres in race one, all credit to them for it, but when I went off it meant I was at the back for race two and it makes life hard for the rest of the weekend. In race three I had contact with the two RAC drivers that meant I had to do a bit of a recovery drive but I had quite a good race with Plato, we swapped places a few times and it was enjoyable to drive. It's just a shame because I should have been at the front before I got removed. Knockhill next will be great for me with all the support of the Scottish fans - and it's not too far for me to travel!"

Returning to the third Integra, Gareth endured a tough reintroduction to the BTCC but more than displayed his talents in the opening race for a fine seventh place finish. Carrying 45kilos of ballast as a late entry into the championship, Gareth was forced to start race one from the pit-lane after pitting at the end of the green flag lap to change his front tyres to slicks, but overcame both the weight and the fact he had to come from the back of the pack to finish just behind Matt on the track after allowing his team leader to come through for valuable points on the final lap. Race two saw Gareth claim ninth place after an eventful race that had seem him run as high as fourth before contact with a rival led to a trip across the grass at the Esses before an unfortunate technical problem led to him parking up in race three.

"It wasn't the easiest weekend for me on my comeback and I had a few problems," Gareth said afterwards. "However it's been horrible watching Matt and Gareth doing their stuff on TV and it's great to be back out on track. I'm a racing driver, I've got a great car and a great team and I want to win, so hopefully I'll have a bit more luck when we go to Knockhill."