Matt Neal and Halfords Yuasa Racing make BTCC history with ‘Diamond Double’ delight at Snetterton

Rowbottom will partner series returnee Gordon Shedden for what will be his second season in the championship, having first raced with Ciceley Motorsport back in The former Renault Clio Cup racer was due to remain with the Mercedes team last year before standing down from his drive as the COVID pandemic took hold, and spent the campaign on the sidelines as a result. Rowbottom will sample the FK8 Honda for the first time in the near future, and the year-old admitted he was delighted to have secured one of the leading seats on the grid.

With Dynamics continuing to run a two-car programme, Neal — a veteran of more than race starts — will now take a year out of competition and adopt a different role within the team for the campaign. Facebook Twitter. Independents had not been allowed the same equipment available to the works teams and it was believed that works-spec tyres could be worth up to three seconds per lap.

Following a brief sojourn to the European Championship, Matt was back in a works Vauxhall Astra in before returning to the family team in For Team Dynamics had developed their own Honda Integra Type R and Matt opened his campaign, again at Donington, with two wins and a second place. Six victories for the season helped Matt to the first of two consecutive British Touring Car Championship titles. Did Matt ever think that he would, one day, be champion when he joined the series in ?

I was just so thrilled to be there, I was focused on doing the best that I could without a real long term goal.

Matt Neal and Halfords Yuasa Racing make BTCC history at Snetterton

There was a little disbelief, and still is now. I feel it shows it can be done for anyone, as long as you have a positive mental attitude. That is something, perhaps, that endears Matt to the fans, that makes him such a popular driver. At six feet six inches 2m tall, Matt was never cut out to be a racing driver.

Steve Neal

He missed out on a single-seater career, but his determination to succeed in unequal machinery, in the early days, and his ever-cheerful manner with the fans quickly made him a favourite. Even now, as one of the all-time greats, no one looks more thrilled to step out of a winning car than Matt. The British Touring Car Championship is a tough arena and the racing is always hard, and that is what has put the championship at the pinnacle of British motorsport.

Matt has carried that determination with him from the early days.

Jason Plato Matt Neal BTCC Rockingham 2011. Uncut live video, body language not seen on ITV.

Matt had two further years at Vauxhall but had to wait until he returned, once again, to the family team for his third title in , in a Honda Civic. He also renewed his partnership with Gordon Shedden, who was with the team from until , himself taking the title on three occasions. Having a consistent package has helped the team to develop and they have been working with Honda since Carrying 75kg of success ballast, after Brands Hatch, Matt would need to call on all of his experience if he was to succeed at his local circuit.

Having qualified back in ninth place in a weather-affected session, Matt opted to use his soft tyres, which each driver has to select for one race per meeting, in the opening race. Shedden, fourth on the grid, chose to do the same and the pair finished just outside the top ten in race one.

Handicap out of the way, it was time to fight back. On the harder rubber Gordon finished fourth and Matt sixth in the second race and the reverse grid draw for the final outing put Matt on row two, behind Sam Tordoff and Josh Cook.

Matt Neal wins the BTCC Diamond Double

Of the top seven drivers only Matt and Gordon were on the harder, more durable, tyres. Jack Goff, starting fourth, made early use of his soft rubber, taking second behind Tordoff, but Cook made a bad start and quickly fell down the order. The Type-R was fantastic, right up to the last lap, I wish it could have gone on!

For his th appearance, at Oulton Park, Matt was given the honour of carrying the race number on his car.