Neal concerned about ballast

The Team Halfords driver goes into the season finale with a comfortable 35 point lead over SEAT's Jason Plato in the championship, but will carry the maximum ballast of 45 kilograms for qualifying and race one.

Neal believes that the short circuit will close the field up, meaning that any extra weight could cost him more positions than normal as he aims to seal a second consecutive title.

"It's such a simple circuit, with three long straights and four corners, that it doesn't take a lot for more drivers to be right up there on the front-running pace," he said.

"Any weight penalty on a track like that is going to hurt probably more than anywhere else because every fraction of a second counts and the ballast will affect my car."

But the reigning champion isn't giving up all hope, as the superior aerodynamic performance of his Honda Integra should allow him to remain competitive.

"Those three long straights could help because the Integra is very good at the end of the straights against something like the SEAT," he said. "I expect I'll lose out with one hand, but then maybe gain with the other."

MG driver Colin Turkington is also in with a mathematical chance of winning the title, but he has admitted that he is effectively out of contention.

"We'll be very competitive at Silverstone, and I'll just be aiming for outright wins to end the season on a high," he said.