Matt Neal took the race three win at Brands Hatch in round nine of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and with it the championship lead heading into the final round of the season.

Neal started the race from the second row of the grid but it didn’t take long for the two-time Touring Car champion to make his way to he front of the field accompanied by team-mate, Gordon Shedden.

Team orders came into play late on in the race when Gordon Shedden was allowed to take the lead across the line and with it the extra bonus point which could prove vital in the outcome of the championship.

“At least we got something out of the weekend,” said Shedden following his second place finish. “It’s not an ideal weekend as I only scored fourteen points which is nowhere near enough if I want to win.”

“Once we got to the front I just made sure that I brought the car home and take the points.”

Behind the Honda pairing was James Nash who secured yet another podium finish of his season. Nash was running in 4th for much of the race but a mistake by Neate late on meant that the Independent Championship leader would take the third step on the podium.

“It hasn’t been the best day but we’ve had three points finishes which is always good. We’ve worked hard all weekend so it’s nice to finish the day on the podium.”

Tom Chilton capped a brilliant weekend for Team Aon and his third points finish of the weekend as he came him win 4th, ahead of the older-style Ford Focus of Mat Jackson.

Jason Plato struggled early on in the race after starting from 10th on the grid and for much of the race was running outside of the points but problems ahead of him for Neate and Boardman allowed the Oxfordshire racer to advance up the order and come home in 6th and score 5 important points in the title race.

Tom Onslow-Cole came home in 7th followed by Andrew Jordan, Tom Boardman and Nick Foster rounding out the top ten.

Full race classification, click here.

Full championship standings, 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.