Neal to Use Eaves' Set-Up

The Team Halfords Honda driver remains favourite to wrap up his first BTCC crown on Sunday, but knows that it would have been better to start from the pole position slot that Eaves managed to grab.

"Fifth is not quite the position I was expecting," said Neal, whose title rival Yvan Muller will start third. "The team tried different set-ups on all three cars and obviously Dan's worked best.

"We'll put that set-up on mine and (teammate) Gareth (Howell)'s cars for tomorrow. But I'm feeling quite good about my chances. It would be nice if my teammates could support me, but I'd really like to do it without their help."

Muller has vowed to fight to the end for the Championship and has spent the weekend focusing on his race set-up.

"Unfortunately, an electrical problem with my car in second practice meant we lost time to fine-tune the set-up, so it wasn't exactly how I wanted it," said the Frenchman. "But I'm quite happy because we never go for a qualifying set-up. We always work on getting the car right for the race. Matt is behind me so that's quite encouraging."