Neal beats Jackson in photo finish

Rain before the start forced most people onto wets, but Jackson - starting ninth - opted for slicks on the fronts and wets on the rear for his Motorbase Ford Focus.

Poleman Jason Plato led initially but a slide at the first corner allowed Neal's Honda Civic and Rob Collard's WSR BMW ahead.

Gordon Shedden moved his Civic through to fourth early on, but could not quite challenge Plato, while Jackson fell as low as 12th.

The Focus was over 20 seconds behind Neal when Tony Gilham's Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra went off at Clervaux, bringing out the safety car.

With the circuit drying, Jackson was the fastest man on track when the race resumed for the last seven laps. He charged through the field, at one point passing the battling Tom Boardman (Special Tuning SEAT) and Alex MacDowall (works Chevrolet Cruze) around the outside at the hairpin, and started the last lap in fourth, right behind the lead trio.

He powered past Plato on the exit of Tower, and a small nudge on Collard's rear at Sunny helped the Focus into second. Jackson then closed on Neal through the complex and got a great drive out of the final hairpin.

The Focus drew alongside Neal, but the Honda held on to win by a nose, while Collard and Plato completed the top four.

Behind a lonely Shedden came Eurotech/Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan in sixth, followed by Tom Chilton's Arena Motorsport Ford Focus.

James Nash, who started sixth, was another runner to try a slicks-wets tyre combination. He also moved through in the closing stages, but the Triple 8 Vectra driver had lost too much ground in the early going and could only recover to eighth.

Results - 17 laps:

Pos  Driver           Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Matt Neal        Honda                 28m27.486s
 2.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford          + 0.055s
 3.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW                 + 1.668s
 4.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet               + 2.547s
 5.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                   + 7.854s
 6.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Vauxhall      + 10.324s
 7.  Tom Chilton      Arena Ford             + 13.044s
 8.  James Nash       Triple 8 Vauxhall      + 13.239s
 9.  Paul O'Neill     Tech-Speed Chevrolet   + 14.016s
10.  Tom Boardman     Special Tuning SEAT    + 18.675s
11.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Arena Ford             + 19.356s
12.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota         + 19.506s
13.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW                + 21.639s
14.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet              + 26.845s
15.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Vauxhall      + 27.139s
16.  Lea Wood         Central Honda          + 29.556s
17.  Shaun Hollamby   AmD Volkswagen         + 38.710s
18.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford         + 49.523s
19.  Dave Newsham     Special Tuning SEAT      + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Andy Neate       Arena Ford               16 laps
     Tony Gilham      Triple 8 Vauxhall         7 laps
     John George      Tech-Speed Chevrolet      3 laps
     Rob Austin       Austin Audi               3 laps
     Chris James      ES Chevrolet              2 laps