![Matt Neal, Honda Yuasa Racing [Team Dynamics], Honda Civic](https://www.touringcars.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/BTCC_BRANDS_HATCH_2013-9223.jpg "Photo: Nick Dungan/SportStock.co.uk")
Matt Neal headed a Honda 1-2 in the final British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Brands Hatch, with Gordon Shedden coming from 25th on the grid to finish in second.
Click here for the full Round 3 results.
With Shedden’s exclusion from the race two results, Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson started race three from pole position, with Neal getting a good start to move from fourth on the grid to second.
The race only lasted two laps, however, before the safety car was required as a result of an incident involving Dave Newsham and Rob Austin. As Newsham lost the back end through Paddock Hill bend the Scot tapped the rear of Austin’s Audi, pitching him sideways into the barriers at high speed. Although Austin emerged unscathed, his car was heavily damaged and both drivers out of the race.
When the race got underway again on lap seven, Jackson ran wide at Druids and allowed Neal through to take the lead, with Adam Morgan and Jason Plato also getting past.
Neal was then able to extend his lead to 2.3 seconds over the next half of the race as the driver’s behind jockeyed for position. Morgan and Plato followed until lap 20, when MG’s hard-charging Sam Tordoff got past his team-mate to take third. Tordoff pushed for second and made a move on lap 25, but with contact made he and Morgan ran wide, allowing Shedden to take the pair for second.
Shedden pressured his team-mate on the final lap but was unable to close the gap, finishing just 0.083 seconds behind. Tordoff held on to finish in third, ahead of Morgan, who scored his best-ever BTCC result.
Plato finished in fifth, consolidating his early championship lead. The Pirtek Honda’s of Andrew Jordan and Jeff Smith were sixth and seventh, ahead of Frank Wrathall’s Dynojet Toyota.
Colin Turkington made it three top ten finishes out of three with ninth on a difficult return to the championship. The WSR driver made a trip though the Paddock gravel trap on the opening lap which dropped him down to 23rd.
Mat Jackson completed the top ten, ahving struggled in the second half of the race.
Lea Wood was the top S2000 driver in 15th, beating Liam Griffin and Joe Girling to the third Jack Sear’s Trophy win of the day.