Round 28 of the 2006 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship saw Matt Neal crowned champion for the second consecutive season. Neal finished fourth in the race, but Jason Plato was down in eighth position, making it impossible for the SEAT driver to bridge the gap in the two remaining races.

It was Neal’s pole-sitting teammate Gareth Howell who led through Copse for the first time, despite a fast start from Colin Turkington, starting alongside him on the front row. Tom Chilton was third away from the line for VX Racing, ahead of SEAT’s Darren Turner and Neal.

Starting down in 13th spot on the grid, Plato made rapid progress through the pack over the first couple of laps, to the extent that he found himself battling Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi for eighth on the second lap.

At the front, Gareth Howell was running ballast-free and quickly opened up a healthy lead of over a second. He was aided by Turkington and Chilton, who continued to squabble over second. Howell’s progress was rapid and on lap five he set a new lap record for the BTCC on the Silverstone National circuit.

Darren Turner and Matt Neal soon made it four cars fighting for second, and before long, they were joined by James Thompson. The pace of the SEATs meant that Neal’s attention was focused on defending from first Turner and then Thompson. Thompson muscled his way past his teammate on lap 11 and set about challenging Neal.

Turner’s race was over a couple of laps later, as he ended up in the gravel on the outside of the track at Brooklands, with a little bit of help from Fabrizio Giovanardi. Meanwhile, James Thompson continued to challenge Neal for third through to the end of the race, but was unable to overcome the champion-elect.

Howell made it a lights-to-flag victory as he took the chequered flag after 22 laps, with more than two seconds separating him from second placed Colin Turkington. Tom Chilton finished third – first of the works drivers.

Matt Neal was fourth, but that was enough to ensure he was crowned champion. “It's unbelievable and I'm over the moon”, said Neal. “Not for me but for the guys here in the team. There are a lot of people who have helped us over the year, who have shown faith in us and invested in the programme and it is great to do it for them.”

James Thompson finished fifth for SEAT Sport UK, ahead of Gordon Shedden in the third Team Halfords Integra. Seventh was Fabrizio Giovanardi, with Jason Plato eighth, Mike Jordan ninth and Rob Collard 10th.