Matt Neal has taken his first win since the opening weekend of the 2007 season with victory in the final HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship race of the weekend at Rockingham.
The Vauxhall man survived treacherous conditions at the Northamptonshire venue to take VX Racing's third win of the campaign and his first with the Vectra since moving over from Team Halfords over the winter.
The race itself was being threatened with rain up until the field prepared to start the green flag lap, when the heavens opened and a heavy downpour hit the circuit. As teams rushed to prepare for the field coming round to the start, 13 drivers dived back into the pits to switch to wet tyres while the rest – including pole man Adam Jones, SEAT's Darren Turner and the three Vauxhall men – all lined up on the grid on slicks.
However, an out of position
Tom Onslow-Cole led to the start being aborted and the entire field was then able to switch to wet tyres in time for the start, which saw all drivers able to return to the their correct positions to start the race.
When the race itself got underway, it was the
BMW drivers who made the ideal starts, making the most of the rear-wheel drive to blast through the field. Indeed,
Colin Turkington headed the field into Deene for the first time having started on the second row, with front-row men Jones and Tom Chilton behind him and
Mat Jackson fourth having started eighth following his race two win. One person who didn't make the best start however was defending champion Fabrizio Giovanardi, who ran slightly wide at Yentwood and dropped outside the top ten.
