Matt Neal believes he faces a difficult task to claim another victory in the British Touring Car Championship at Rockingham this weekend, with the Honda driver carrying 57 kg of success ballast into the event.
Neal’s second win of the year at Snetterton last time out kept him in third position in the drivers’ championship standings but moved him to just 16 points from the top of the table.
The Halfords Yuasa Racing driver is still enjoying the wake of his milestone victory, and he is hoping to carry that feeling forward to this weekend’s seventh race meeting of the year in Corby at a venue where he has tested the new Civic.
“It was a truly special feeling to make BTCC history at Snetterton and it’s a pleasure to reward the team for all of the hard work they have put in this year to make the new Civic Type R (FK8) such a competitive package,” said Neal.
“While we’re all certainly still buzzing and savouring the moment, we are nonetheless focused on the rounds ahead, beginning with Rockingham, a track I had the honour of claiming victory at on the BTCC’s inaugural visit back in 2003.”
Whilst the three-time champion has previously won four times at Rockingham – most recently in 2010 – he admits that repeating the task this weekend will be difficult, especially carrying ballast intro qualifying and race one.
“It’ll be tough to replicate that feat considering the success ballast I’ll be carrying but we have tested there this year and the Honda has all the attributes needed to perform well at Rockingham.
“If we enjoy a clean weekend, we’ll be in good shape overall.”