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Matt Neal gives NGTC Honda first win in Brands Hatch race two

Reigning British Touring Car champion Matt Neal gave the new NGTC Honda Civic its first victory in the second race at Brands Hatch

Polesitter and race one winner Rob Collard held the lead at the start in his WSR BMW and had a 1.3-second advantage at the end of the first lap, but was soon closed down.

Tom Onslow-Cole initially ran third in his WSR BMW, but he had jumped the start. Before he served his drivethrough penalty he was overtaken at Druids by Jason Plato's MG.

Once free, Plato joined Neal in pressuring Collard. At the end of lap five, Neal attacked at Clearways to take the lead, and Plato followed down the start/finish straight.

Nick Foster then rolled his WSR BMW and brought out the safety car.

At the restart the two champions fought hard for the lead. With the help of a little contact at Clearways, Plato took the lead at the end of lap 17, but Neal soon responded.

With some rubbing of his own, which slightly damaged the rear of Plato's car, he dived back past the MG6 at Clearways on the following lap.

Thereafter Plato, who had earlier set the race's fastest lap, gradually dropped back and was eventually caught by Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Civic. Jordan dived by Plato at Paddock with four laps to go and closed on Neal, but could not usurp the works machine.

Behind the top three, Mat Jackson's Motorbase Ford Focus held off Rob Austin's Audi for fourth, after Gordon Shedden's Honda retired to the pits.

Collard eventually came home sixth, just ahead of Jeff Smith's Eurotech Civic.

Ollie Jackson brought AmD Milltek's VW Golf home a fine eighth, helped by a penalty for Lea Wood's Vauxhall Vectra for not respecting the track limits.

Dave Newsham (ES Racing Vectra), who started near the back and had to pit early in the race, snatched ninth by passing Onslow-Cole and Dan Welch (Proton) on the final lap.

Results - 27 laps:

Pos  Driver           Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Matt Neal        Dynamics Honda     24m52.965s
 2.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda       + 0.360s
 3.  Jason Plato      Triple 8 MG          + 1.720s
 4.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford       + 3.516s
 5.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi          + 3.973s
 6.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW              + 7.865s
 7.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda       + 8.561s
 8.  Ollie Jackson    AmD Volkswagen      + 14.521s
 9.  Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall         + 16.334s
10.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW             + 16.417s
11.  Daniel Welch     Welch Proton        + 16.493s
12.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford      + 17.351s
13.  Tony Gilham      Gilham Honda        + 19.962s
14.  Andy Neate       Triple 8 MG         + 24.261s
15.  Lea Wood         Wood Vauxhall       + 32.658s
16.  Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota   + 44.404s
17.  John Thorne      Thorney Vauxhall    + 47.446s

Did not finish:

     Gordon Shedden   Dynamics Honda        13 laps
     Nick Foster      WSR BMW                6 laps
     Chris James      ES Vauxhall            6 laps
     Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford         3 laps

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