It went down to the final race of the final round of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and it was Matt Neal who takes his third title of his career in his 20th season in the series.

Matt took his seventh win of the season earlier in the day during race one which put one hand on the title and he never looked back from there to take the title over team-mate Gordon Shedden by a margin of just 8 points after thirty races in the season. Neal’s race wins came at Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Thruxton, a brace at Croft, Brands Hatch GP and today at Silverstone and that was good enough for him to take the 2011 title.

Going into the final round of the season there were five drivers who all had a chance in taking the title but one by one they fell by the wayside after each race. After race one Mat Jackson and James Nash dropped out of the running with Jason Plato doing the same after race two leaving the two team-mates, Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden to fight it out in the final race.

Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden started from 8th and 9th on the grid for the third and final race following the reverse grid and that’s pretty much how it stayed for the duration of the race with Gordon Shedden struggling to get past his team-mate which he needed to do to take the title. There was a little scare late on when Rob Austin pushed through the pack but Matt Neal stayed composed and did enough to take the his third title of his career.

For the full championship standings, click here.

Photo Credit: Jon Hobley

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.