Rounds 13-15, Croft, 18/19 June, 2011

Honda Racing Team ace Matt Neal heads the charge for the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after two majestic wins at Croft in North Yorkshire.

It means the Civic driver is now nine points clear at the head of the drivers’ standings with the championship at its halfway point while the sister car of Flash Gordon Shedden is third in the standings only 20 points adrift. Honda also continues its leads of the manufacturer and team standings.

Neal conquered the tricky conditions in the opening race on Sunday to fend off a late charge from a rival and took the chequered flag just 0.055 seconds clear following a tense race. He was able to control the pace in the second race to add his fifth win of the campaign and was then seventh in the reversed grid race three. Three top six finishes for Scotsman Shedden have also helped him keep the pressure on in the fight for the prestigious crown.

“If you had have offered me two podium finishes coming in to this weekend, I would have taken them,” said Neal. “To get two wins and then more points in race three was better than we could have imagined. The Honda Racing Team car has been fantastic this weekend. We have worked hard on getting the most out of the handling of the Civic chassis which really is a benefit in the wet weather – the entire Honda Racing Team crew has been at the top of its game this weekend and that is what has helped us to get the results.”

Shedden said he was disappointed not to have scaled the podium but thinks that there are lessons that can be learned from a solid weekend at Croft.

“I was never really in the sweet spot with the handling of the car but we still walked away with three top six finishes,” said Flash. “I am frustrated that I couldn’t have been on the podium like Matt but I know the potential is there in the car and we just have to work on finding it.

“We have got a seven-week break in the championship now before the next rounds at Snetterton, so we have plenty of time to go back through the data that we get from this meeting to work out the areas that will push me even further forwards. This wasn’t a perfect weekend for me, but it wasn’t a disaster either. In this series, it is all about consistently scoring points.”

The next rounds of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship takes place at Snetterton in Norfolk on August 6/7.