Matt Neal secured his first win of the 2013 BTCC season in an exciting final race on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit - leading a Honda Yuasa Racing one-two ahead of Gordon Shedden.
Neal took the lead early on after pole-sitter Mat Jackson slid wide in his Ford Focus at Druids. The Honda driver went on to take charge of the race, but eventually hung on by less than a second from his team-mate after his soft compound tyres began to drop off in pace. A great drive from Sam Tordoff saw him score his maiden BTCC podium for the MG KX Momentum team.
Jackson held on to first place off the line, whilst Neal tucked in behind having despatched of Adam Morgans Toyota Avensis on the run down to Paddock Hill Bend. There was disappointment for the fast starting Colin Turkington after he ran through the gravel and dropped down the order.
A huge accident on lap two followed when Dave Newsham spun on the dip between Paddock and the run up to Druids. Rob Austin attempted to take avoiding action but clipped the stricken Toyota on his way through. Austins Audi ran on to the grass at high speed before making heavy impact with the barrier on the inside of the circuit. Both drivers emerged unscathed but the incident led to a lengthy safety car period.
Jackson made his mistake shortly after the restart, which left him down in fourth, and he would be shuffled further down the order to tenth later on.
It was the impressive Morgan in a clear second as Neal streaked away with the lead, as race one and two winner Jason Plato struggled to hang on to the lead duo in his MG6. Tordoff later passed his team-mate and set about closing down Morgan ahead of him.
Frank Wrathall (Toyota Avensis) and Shedden (Honda Civic) were both making a surge through the order for the second time on Sunday having started two of the three races from the back of the grid. They ran as high as eighth and ninth in the early running, before Wrathalls charge was halted amidst a battle with Jeff Smith. Shedden ploughed on however, and made it by the two Hondas of Smith and Andrew Jordan before a comfortable pass by Plato followed.
Now running in fourth, Shedden recovered from a wild slide out of Clearways to benefit from the fight between Morgan and Tordoff on the penultimate lap. MG racer Tordoff made slight contact with Morgan as they approached Clarke Curve, and as they both ran wide Shedden slipped through into second. Tordoff followed him to secure his first podium in BTCC, whilst Morgan had to be content with fourth and his first ever Independents win.
Plato settled for fourth ahead of Jordan with the pair having carried success ballast for much of the day. Jeff Smith scored a solid seventh place with Frank Wrathall just four tenths of a second behind. Turkington produced another recovery drive to claim ninth ahead of Jackson.
The Jack Sears Trophy runners put on another exciting contest as early leader David Nye (Ford Focus) relinquished his lead to Lea Wood (Vauxhall Vectra). Liam Griffin also made it by Nye in his Ford Focus and was eventually awarded the victory after Wood was excluded from the result due to a ride height infringement.
A jubilant Matt Neal said: Im really chuffed with the one-two after whats been a tough weekend, but they always say to finish on a high. It was a nice way to finish the race aswellit reminded me of the last race of last season.
2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship - Brands Hatch Indy - Race 3
1 Matt Neal Honda Yuasa Racing 27 laps2 Gordon Shedden Honda Yuasa Racing +0.0833 Sam Tordoff MG KX Momentum Racing +1.2164 Adam Morgan Ciceley Racing +2.1715 Jason Plato MG KX Momentum Racing +3.6516 Andrew Jordan Pirtek Honda +4.7277 Jeff Smith Pirtek Honda +6.0268 Frank Wrathall Dynojet +6.4309 Colin Turkington eBay Motors +9.50810 Mat Jackson Airwaves Racing +10.133
