BTCC Round 3 - Rockingham (13-04-08)
Rockingham race 3: Neal splashes to victory
Droitwich's Matt Neal has won the third of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire – held in soaking wet conditions.
VX Racing driver Neal (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) led home Tom Chilton (Team Halfords Honda Civic) and Adam Jones (Team Air Cool SEAT Leon).
But the outcome of the race was up in the air until the closing stages.
Heavy rain on the grid forced the race start to be delayed. When it started, Colin Turkington quickly built up a big lead over Chilton and race two winner, BMW Dealer Team UK's Mat Jackson (BMW 320si), but this was eroded during a safety car period - required to clear Darren Turner's SEAT Leon TDI and John George's TH Motorsport/JAG Honda Integra after both had slithered off the track in separate incidents.
Turkington held his lead at the re-start but Chilton put him under immediate pressure and within a couple of laps slipped past only to then run wide at the next bend and tumble down the order. This allowed Jackson in to attack Turkington ,but still the RAC driver would not give way and as they braked for the Tarzan hairpin their cars made contact - Jackson's running straight on into the gravel trap and out of the race. At that moment, Jackson had been on course to take over the lead of the championship...
Eventually, the lurking Neal found a way past Turkington who, in trying to retaliate, lost further positions when he almost over-cooked it at the Yentwood corner. This enabled Jones and Gordon Shedden (Halfords Honda) to sneak past. Turkington then also lost out to Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and, on the run to the line, to Jason Plato (SEAT Leon TDI) by just 0.012s.
As in race two, Plato had needed to come through from the back of the field following a 30-seconds stop-go penalty in the pit lane as punishment after his team had continued changing tyres on his car on the grid after the 'three minutes to go' signal.
Neal, though, ran out a comfortable winner, setting the race's fastest lap en route to his first win with the Vauxhall team. He said: "I'm delighted - it was so difficult driving in those conditions, with lots of puddles and acquaplaning. I couldn't see a thing out of my back window so just got my head down and went for it. But the Vectra was just dynamite in the conditions and having been on the backfoot a bit at Brands a few weeks ago, when I was still learning the car, this is a great result."
Having, at one stage, looked set to lose his points lead to Jackson, Vauxhall team-mate Giovanardi's fifth means the Italian leaves Rockingham with an increased advantage of seven points over the BMW driver.
Eighth, after accidently knocking his Motorbase BMW team-mate Steven Kane into a spin was Robert Collard, ninth having also come through from the back of the field after a pit stop to change tyres, Mike Jordan's John Guest Honda Integra and tenth for a breakthrough first point of 2008 Turkish driver Erkut Kizilirmak in his Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk team's Vauxhall Astra.
Having set a new lap record in race one, there was disappointment for Vauxhall's Tom Onslow-Cole who this time retired with damage to the front suspension of his Vauxhall Vectra VXR.
Leading positions Rockingham race 3 (provisional):
1. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, 18 laps in 31m06.261s
2. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +4.914s
3. Adam Jones (GBR), Team Air Cool/SEAT Leon, +5.785s
Fastest lap: Neal, 1m35.469s (73.15mph)
For full race results click on this link: http:/www.btcc.net/html/raceresults_detail.php?race_id=46&season_id=51
Leading points positions (provisional):
1. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), 63 points
2. Mat Jackson (GBR), 56
3. Gordon Shedden GBR), 50
4. Matt Neal (GBR), 47
5. Darren Turner (GBR), 38
6. Jason Plato (GBR), 35
For full championship positions click on this link: http:/www.btcc.net/html/standings.php?standings_id=1&season_id=51