Matt Neal relishing “good fight” with Sam Tordoff at Brands Hatch

Matt Neal says he’s relishing the title fight with Sam Tordoff at finals weekend at Brands Hatch, after salvaging a fifth place in the third race from a tough day at Silverstone.

The Team Dynamics driver had looked in good shape in the opening race before contact with Aiden Moffat and a subsequent puncture led to a DNF when he had been running well ahead of Tordoff.

After a recovery drive to 15th from the back in the second race and a further charge to fifth in the finale, the triple champion leaves Silverstone 13 points behind the West Surrey Racing man, after starting the weekend five behind.

Team-mate and reigning champion Gordon Shedden has also crept ahead of Neal, 11 points behind Tordoff, something the Midlander feels can be used to the team’s advantage at Brands.

“Sam’s still got a bit of a points lead on us but we’re still in the hunt, and we’ve got two strings to our bow,” said Neal to TouringCarTimes.

“Two laps from the end of the first race I was sat there feeling quite smug, thinking we were going to have a strong weekend and come out of here with a big advantage. It just shows you how things can change.

“In the third race the car felt strong at the end, and the tyres felt strong. Jason [Plato] obviously ran into a tyre problem and Turks was also struggling a wee bit behind Mat [Jackson] so I was able to make progress.”

Looking ahead to Brands Hatch, Neal was asked if his experience relative to Tordoff would be a factor in the outcome of the championship.

He said: “We’ll work on him a bit by then! It will be a circuit which will work well for us, but it should work well for the BMW as well. He’s got a strong team behind him so it should be a good fight.”