Neal makes it a double at Mondello

Neal led from start to finish in his Team Dynamics Honda Integra-R, with race one runner-up Jason Plato again taking second place in his SEAT Leon.

Despite two safety car periods, which led to half of the race run under yellow flags, Plato was unable to launch a convincing attack for the lead and settled for valuable championship points.

In the early stages, Plato was threatened by Colin Turkington's RAC-backed WSR-run MG ZS, but the Northern Irishman was unable to wrest the position and settled for third in the closing laps.

While the top three enjoyed a relatively uneventful race, it was a different story further back. Gordon Shedden, driving the second Dynamics Integra, misjudged his braking point for the first corner of the race and clattered into the left-rear of James Thompson's SEAT.

While Shedden continued to finish fourth, Tom Chilton was out on the spot after going into the gravel in avoidance. Vauxhall teammate Gavin Smith also went off in the incident, but rejoined.

Although Thompson kept going, suspension damage pitched him into the luckless Fabrizio Giovanardi's Vauxhall, putting both out on the spot.

With several of the big guns out of the running, David Pinkney was able to claim an inspired fifth place in his Motorbase Performance Integra. P

inkney fought his way past Smith's stoic defence in the closing stages after a hard-fought battle with fellow independents James Kaye (Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R), Mike Jordan (Eurotech Racing Integra) and Mark Proctor (Fast-Tec Civic).

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver                 Team                        Time
 1.  Matt Neal              Honda Integra               34:09.627
 2.  Jason Plato            SEAT Leon                   +   0.998
 3.  Colin Turkington       MG ZS                       +   1.681
 4.  Gordon Shedden         Honda Integra               +  11.244
 5.  David Pinkney          Honda Integra               +  16.704
 6.  Gavin Smith            Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch  +  18.721
 7.  James Kaye             Honda Civic Type R          +  20.842
 8.  Mike Jordan            Honda Integra               +  21.677
 9.  Mark Proctor           Honda Civic Type R          +  36.350
10.  Martyn Bell            BMW 320i E46                +  38.754
11.  Robert Collard         MG ZS                       +1:01.849

NOT CLASSIFIED:

     Driver                 Team                        Laps
     Fiona Leggate          Vauxhall Astra Coupe         6
     Tom Chilton            Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch   0
     Fabrizio Giovanardi    Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch   0
     James Thompson         SEAT Leon                    0

Fastest lap: Plato, 1:46.544 on lap 8