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Matt Neal at 500 - YES 500!

By MJP Media | 17 April 2013

As Matt Neal prepares for his 500th British Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park this weekend, we take a look back at his long career which started in 1991 and is still going strong.

Matt will reach his 500th BTCC race at Donington Park this weekend

This Sunday will see Touring Car legend Matt Neal compete in his 500th BTCC race at Donington Park. This milestone is a fabulous achievement by one of the most respected drivers on the grid and according to Matt there will be many more to come!

Matt Neal made his BTCC debut with Pyramid Motorsport in the 1991 BTCC season driving a BMW M3. He finished 13th in this his first race. He won the Total Cup with Team Dynamics in 1993, before joining Mazda for the 1994 season which was cut short by a huge crash. He rejoined Dynamics for 1995, remaining for several years where he frequently toppled the big boys of the sport as well as winning the Independents' title in 1995, 1999 and 2000. In 1999 he caused a sensation by winning a race at Donington Park in a Nissan, the first Independent to do so in the modern era. He took a further win a year later. Matt briefly joined Peugeot in 2001 but spent most of that season in European Touring Cars.

In 2002 Matt was driving a Vauxhall Astra in the Egg Sport team alongside Paul O'Neill. He finished 3rd in the championship, ahead of his team mate on 145 points. For 2003 he switched to drive a Honda Civic and has largely stayed with the Honda machinery ever since. 2003 saw a second 3rd place in the championship for Matt and he was really starting to become a star.

Matt in his 2013 Honda Yuasa Racing Team NGTC Civic

2005 was the breakthrough year for Matt and Team Dynamics when they developed the Honda Integra from scratch and won the Drivers', Teams' and Independents' championships. Matt also set a record of finishing in the points in every race of 2005! In 2006, Matt again secured the Drivers' Championship with a string of consistent finishes. After 2 years without a mechanical failure, Matt had a difficult 2007 including a brief trip to hospital after a crash and attracted criticism during the season's final race in which Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jason Plato fought for the Drivers' title. Having signed on as a Vauxhall driver for 2008, Matt let Vauxhall drivers Giovanardi and Tom Chilton through without a fight, but did not do the same for Plato in the SEAT, ensuring Giovanardi would win the title.

In his first year for VX Racing in 2008, Matt took just one win at Rockingham while team-mate Giovanardi took five wins on the way to retaining his title. Matt finished the year 5th in the standings. After a strong start to 2009, winning the opening race at Brands Hatch, he failed to win again all season, finishing fourth in the standings behind Giovanardi. For a man so used to being on the top step of the podium this was unacceptable.

Matt with his family after winning the 2011 Drivers' Championship

Matt returned to Team Dynamics for the 2010 season under the Honda Racing banner alongside former team mate Gordon Shedden. Matt lost out in the Drivers' Championship to his arch enemy Jason Plato late in the season but he helped Honda take the Manufacturers and Teams Championships.

Matt stayed with Honda in 2011 with the Civic now having a new NGTC-spec engine. For much of the season the Civics had an advantage over the rest of the field and Matt took his third Drivers' title - after 2005 and 2006 - for the Honda Racing team at the final round at Silverstone, edging Gordon Shedden into second and thus helping his team to secure the Manufacturers and Constructors titles.

In 2012, Matt drove the new NGTC Honda Civic. He took the first ever win for a full NGTC car in the BTCC in the second race of the season at Brands Hatch. He won two more races at Oulton Park and with team-mate Gordon Shedden taking the other win, Honda Yuasa Racing became one of the few teams to win all 3 races in one day. For 2013, Matt remains at Honda Yuasa Racing alongside Shedden and is currently lying 5th in the championship standings following the opening rounds at Brands Hatch.

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