Honda Racing team duo Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden can’t be separated at the head of the title chase for the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after another winning weekend at Rockingham.
Shedden won the second race at the Northamptonshire track while a podium finish for Neal means that the two drivers are dead level after 24 races of the 30 race season and they have stolen a march on their rivals.
Neal said that he was thrilled with the all-round showing of the Civic during the three races at Rockingham, it was despite performance handicaps dictated by a change in the rules.
“They are throwing things in our direction to slow us down for doing a good job but we are fighting on regardless,” explains the former double champion. “We were saddled with an extra 20 kilogrammes of weight at Rockingham and yet we still managed to bank a load of points.“The extra penalty has made things hard compared to some cars that don’t carry the extra handicap but the fact we still got strong results is down to the performance of the Honda. It has a great engine and chassis – the all round package means that we are compensating for the rule changes but it is getting harder and harder all the time. I would just love to race the car without any of the limitations that have been placed on us.”
Neal has 204 points in the standings along with Shedden, and the pair are more than 20 clear of any other challenger with six races remaining in the series.
Shedden said that despite his win at the weekend the remaining two meetings would be hard work for the Honda duo. “Winning wasn’t something I expected to do before we went to Rockingham because of the way things have been turned against us,” explains ‘Flash’. “We noticed the difference in the performance of the car and it has shifted the balance of power against us compared to most of our rivals.
“Like Matt says, the only reason we were able to put in such a good showing was that the Civic is an excellent all round package that works well on the fast corners and through the twists. It will certainly not make things easy for the rest of the season but we are both in the best place to be, which is on top of the points table.
“Matt and I both want to win this championship for Honda and that is our primary goal. Once that is done, we can look at sorting the drivers’ title out between ourselves but there is a lot of racing yet to be done.”
The penultimate meeting of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship takes place at Brands Hatch in Kent on October 1/2.
