Matt Neal will walk away from Oulton Park as leader of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship but has seen his lead cut down to just two points as the teams prepare themselves for the next round of the season.

Neal went into the first race of the day with great promise after starting from the front row alongside team-mate, Gordon Shedden, but it was the Scotsman that got the better of the two and lead from the start and took a lights-to-flag victory ahead of the two chasing Chevrolet’s of Jason Plato and MacDowall. Neal however slipped down the order and could only manage an 8th place finish in the tricky damp weather conditions.

Controversy was to be had in race two and it was left down to the final corner of the final lap for it to unfold. Honda Racing commanded from the start as Neal scythed through the field to set up what looked to be a straight forward 1-2 finish for the third time this season but that was not to be.

Championship leader, Matt Neal, took a dive down the inside coming into Lodge corner and inturn locked up on the damp part of the circuit causing him to collide with team-mate and race leader Gordon Shedden putting himself out of the race and slipping Shedden down to 6th. That left two-time BTCC champion, Jason Plato, to bring home his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze for his 4th race win of the year ahead of James Nash and Rob Collard. Collard was handed a 1 second penalty after gaining being adjudged to have gained an unfair advantage which dropped him one place from his 2nd place finish out on track.

The track had all but dried in for the third race of the day and starting from 2nd on the grid following the top 9 grid reversal, Mat Jackson took his second win of the season ahead of Gordon Shedden and Andrew Jordan.

All this now means that Matt Neal’s lead at the top of the championship is now just 2 points ahead of fellow team-mate Gordon Shedden on 103pts. A further 5 points behind Shedden is race three winner Mat Jackson who lies one point ahead of James Nash in the Triple Eight Racing Vauxhall Vectra. Fifth in the championship is occupied by reigning BTCC champion, Jason Plato, on 91pts ahead of Andrew Jordan on 88.

For full championship standings click here or for full results from the weekend click here.

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.