Matt Neal leads Honda one-two in Donington Park BTCC finale
Matt Neal took his first victory of the 2016 British Touring Car Championship season in the third race at Donington Park to retain his position atop the points table
Neal led home Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R team-mate Gordon Shedden in a second one-two of the campaign for the Japanese car.
The Honda duo had initially followed the WSR BMW 125i M Sports of polesitter Sam Tordoff and Jack Goff, who moved into second place on lap three.
But the two rear-wheel-drive cars were on the softer Dunlop rubber, and Neal and Shedden tracked their prey until the tyres wilted.
Neal jumped into the lead with three laps to go, while Shedden took second the next time around.
Neal said: "It was our plan to wait until the BMWs faded, but plans don't always come together.
"I was worried that Tordoff's tyres were hanging on and hanging on, and I wondered whether the race would come back to me - but thankfully it did."
Tordoff claimed third, but Goff plummeted to sixth. He was passed by race two winner and team-mate Rob Collard with two laps to go.
Rookie Ash Sutton's MG also passed Goff before the flag.
Aiden Moffat brought his Ciceley Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class home in seventh ahead of the Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis of Rob Austin.
The soft-tyred Josh Cook and Andrew Jordan rounded out the top 10.
RESULTS - 16 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Matt Neal | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 19m08.350s |
2 | Gordon Shedden | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 0.222s |
3 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 2.690s |
4 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 2.908s |
5 | Ash Sutton | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 4.142s |
6 | Jack Goff | WSR | BMW | 9.245s |
7 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 9.379s |
8 | Rob Austin | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 13.028s |
9 | Josh Cook | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 17.535s |
10 | Andrew Jordan | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 18.146s |
11 | Martin Depper | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 18.275s |
12 | Hunter Abbott | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 18.289s |
13 | Michael Epps | Team Hard | Toyota | 18.902s |
14 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 19.572s |
15 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BKR | Volkswagen | 24.260s |
16 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 24.796s |
17 | Chris Smiley | Team Hard | Toyota | 24.993s |
18 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Subaru | 25.204s |
19 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 25.434s |
20 | Kelvin Fletcher | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 28.111s |
21 | Stewart Lines | Maximum Motorsport | Ford | 31.428s |
22 | Alex Martin | Team Parker Racing | Ford | 34.259s |
23 | Matt Simpson | Speedworks Motorsport | Honda | 38.970s |
24 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 40.487s |
- | Jeff Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | Retirement |
- | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | Retirement |
- | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | Retirement |
- | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Subaru | Retirement |
- | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Toyota | Retirement |
- | Mark Howard | Team BKR | Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | James Cole | Team BMR | Subaru | Not started |
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Matt Neal | 78 |
2 | Gordon Shedden | 73 |
3 | Jack Goff | 66 |
4 | Rob Collard | 64 |
5 | Mat Jackson | 61 |
6 | Sam Tordoff | 56 |
7 | Aron Taylor-Smith | 56 |
8 | Ash Sutton | 55 |
9 | Josh Cook | 46 |
10 | Adam Morgan | 45 |
11 | Andrew Jordan | 44 |
12 | Tom Ingram | 39 |
13 | Aiden Moffat | 32 |
14 | Jeff Smith | 26 |
15 | Rob Austin | 21 |
16 | Hunter Abbott | 11 |
17 | Colin Turkington | 10 |
18 | Martin Depper | 5 |
19 | Daniel Welch | 5 |
20 | Jason Plato | 3 |
21 | Michael Epps | 3 |
22 | Jake Hill | 3 |
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