Matt Neal produced a strong performance back at Croft to elevate himself into title contention in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heading into the mid-season break, with a trio of strong top ten finishes raising him up to third in the Drivers’ standings.
Both Neal and Halfords Yuasa Racing team-mate Dan Cammish had to dig deep after struggling during qualifying around the North Yorkshire circuit, with the three-time champion placing 15th on the grid and the BTCC rookie 20th amongst the 32-car field.
Neal drew upon his experience to fight his way to a ninth-place finish in race one, and he was moving forward again in race two when a collision sent him to 11th. Undeterred, he recovered to seventh at the chequered flag and completed his weekend’s points-scoring tally with a solid fourth in race three after briefly pushing for the podium.
“We really had to fight for every single point, and my car ended up looking a bit battered and bruised,” said Neal. “I think all the Hondas suffered, and Croft is normally a track that suits us.
"It would have been nice to finish on the podium in race three; ultimately, we didn’t quite have enough but fourth was still a very solid result and we scored good points across the weekend towards the Drivers’, Manufacturers’ and Teams’ championships, which is a positive way to go into the summer break.”
Competing on home turf, Yorkshireman Cammish found the going tough in the opener after going the wrong way on set-up and crossing the finish line 19th, but with his Honda Civic Type R much improved for races two and three, the 29-year-old stormed to 11th and tenth-place finishes respectively to conclude his weekend on a far more positive note.
“It was certainly an uphill struggle!” he said. “I arrived here having never driven a front-wheel drive car round Croft before and with not a lot of time to adapt during free practice.
"We definitely missed a trick. We were nowhere in qualifying, so we changed the set-up massively for race one but that only made things worse. Fortunately, Matt went in the other direction and it worked for him so we copied that and from then on, things picked up.
“I think I did the best job I could over the weekend, but Matt’s greater experience definitely told. Race two was solid, but we didn’t really have the pace on the hard tyre in race three.
"Although the results perhaps don’t show it, I honestly don’t think there’s a lot more I could have done. This championship is tough, but as a driver, I’m learning and improving all the time and that’s the main goal.”
The results saw Neal go from sixth up to third in the Drivers' championship, with Cammish sitting 13th. Halfords Yuasa Racing strengthened its grip on second spot in the Teams’ table, with Honda advancing a position to second in the Manufacturers’ classification ahead of the next outing at Snetterton in Norfolk on 28/29 July.
