Matt Neal takes his 60th career win in Race 1 at Thruxton

Matt Neal won his 60th race in the British Touring Car Championship in Race 1, leading Team Dynamics Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden, with Jack Goff completing the top three to a Honda podium lock-out.

Neal made a good start from pole position in the Honda, but was challenged by team-mate Gordon Shedden at the start, with the two running side-by-side despite Shedden carrying 75kg of ballast, but Neal drew ahead and led the way, and built a small lead over his team-mate, with Goff running behind them in the Eurotech Racing Civic.

Tom Ingram ran a steady fourth in the Speedworks Toyota Avensis, while Adam Morgan worked his way up to fifth ahead of Rob Austin’s Toyota on lap five.

On lap seven, Austin was involved in more action as Subaru’s Ash Sutton made his move past the Toyota at Church, with Motorbase Ford’s Mat Jackson copying the move behind as he passed BMW’s Colin Turkington for eighth.

A lap later however, and Turkington was able to get past both of them as Jackson tried to make a move on Austin at Segrave, and the two held each other up.

Just outside the top ten, the #77 BMW of Andrew Jordan was fighting the Eurotech Honda of Jeff Smith, whilst also fighting off the Power Maxed Vauxhall of Tom Chilton. On lap 14, Jordan spun around at the complex, clipping Chilton’s Astra, with Chilton dropping to 14th, and with Jordan dropping to 28th, well outside of the points.

30 cars made the finish, with just Team Parker Racing’s Josh Cook and Team HARD’s Jake Hill retiring, after the two made contact with each other at Cobb on lap three and ended up in the barriers.

Neal’s 60th win matches Andy Rouse’s record, with only Jason Plato on more with 95.

Tom Ingram still leads the drivers’ standings on 99 points, with Shedden second on 84 points, with Turkington third on 81.

The next race takes place at 14:32 BST, with Neal on pole position, but now carrying 75kg of success ballast.