Oulton 2: Neal puts a seal on 2003

In a season where Vauxhall took the top two championship positions, Honda can take a warm feeling into the winter after Matt Neal won the final race of the series at Oulton Park today (Sunday). The win means he has secured third place in the drivers' championship behind Yvan Muller and James Thompson

Sep 21, 2003, 5:27 PM

Thompson again led the first half of the race, with Muller and Neal in close attendance. Things changed at the pitstops, where Neal got ahead of both Vauxhalls and Thompson's engine blew shortly after exiting the pits. With no success ballast, Neal was able to hold a clear advantage to the end.

MG's Colin Turkington took third after an intra-team scrap with Anthony Reid. The pair swapped positions a few times in a race which never materialised into the expected crashfest.

As in race one, Gareth Howell took honours in the Independents class, but Rob Collard's second place in the class meant he took the championship honours. Luke Hines and Tom Boardman provided a thrilling dice in the Production category, but it was eventually resolved in the favour of Peugeot driver Boardman.