Matt Neal extends his lead at the top of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after he took a lights-to-flag victory in the first race of the day here at Silverstone.

Neal, who started from pole position, didn’t look back after holding off the challenge from Mat Jackson for the duration of the race. Neal managed to consistently lap around the one minute mark whilst defending brilliantly from the challenging Focus. The two-time champion now leads team-mate Gordon Shedden by 10 points with 32 points up for grabs with two races to go.

“One step closer but a lot of racing to go. I didn’t expect to win with the weight on the car,” said Neal speaking to BTCC Crazy after the race. “Jackson was fast through the complex and I was just concentrating on keeping him behind me. There was so many times where I thought I was going to let Mat [Jackson] go but I just had to hold on.”

Gordon Shedden was fortunate to be elevated to second and with it take an extra two points from the race which could prove vital come the end of the day in his title challenge to keep him within reach of his team-mate, Neal. Shedden capitalised from the unfortunate puncture which Mat Jackson suffered with just three laps to go after running 2nd for much of the race.

James Nash took the third step on the podium and with it provisionally wrapped up the independent drivers title ahead of Mat Jackson who failed to score.

Tom Onslow-Cole drove a brilliant race to come from 11th on the grid to come home in 4th ahead of Alex MacDowall in the Silverline Chevrolet Cruze.

Dave Newsham took his best ever finish in the BTCC when he came over the line in 6th in the Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon to beat his previous best of 7th.

Andrew Jordan followed him over the line ahead of Collard, Neate and Wrathall who rounded out the top ten.

Elsewhere it was misery for Jason Plato who suffered a puncture on lap seven of the race after heavily defending from the chasing pack after running as high as 7th.

The race wasn’t without incidents as there was carnage at the start of the race which saw the cars of Thompson, Austin and Gilham retire after collision on the start line further down the pack.

For full race classification 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.