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Mr. Gow, the Auto Trader British Touring Car Championship organiser, witnessed a rather surprising result in the first day of racing in the 1999 season! He must have sweated out the first race of Easter Monday with privateer Matt Neal finishing in the points (5th place). Not only that, Matt proved to be one of the quickest men on the track, harrying for position right to the chequered flag after a frantic 18 laps, battling with David Leslie in the works Nissan Primera GT.
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The surprise is not just at the possibility of a small-budget outfit out-pacing the factory teams, but, a pledge was made before the start of the season - offering �250,000 to the first privateer to win a race outright! How's that for inspiration?! Matt Neal certainly rose to the challenge in the tense qualifying session, qualifying in 2nd place on the grid with only James Thompson, in the new, super-quick Honda Accord between him and that cool quarter of a million. Unfortunately, Neal got off to a bad start and was relegated to 5th place by the second corner - he diced with Jean-Christophe Boullion briefly before they came together on lap 3. This resulted in the Williams Renault driver spinning into the gravel, unable to continue. The Williams team lodged an official complaint.
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Photograph provided by Williams Touring Car Engineering
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James Thompson drove his Accord faultlessly to what looked like an easy victory. This new car has surprised everybody with the integrity of its engineering - fresh out of the box, it seems to be almost untouchable. Almost. The WSR prepared Ford Mondeos were surprisingly rapid all weekend too. Alain Menu (ex-Renault) finished a fine second in the sprint race, but went out on lap 20 in the feature. That was the race to separate the mice from the men!
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Photograph provided by Williams Touring Car Engineering
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Matt Neal began the feature race on pole and overcame his nerves to keep this advantage until his pit-stop. He drove superbly under pressure, and, once he had relaxed, began to pull away from the rest of the field! This is almost unprecedented in BTCC. The racing continued with much excitement as usual (Neil Blackbourn does not agree!). Bizarrely, just as the pit-stop sessions had started, a rash of opening bonnets spread! First, claiming the Nissan of David Leslie at Mcleans (with a little help from Anthony Reid's Mondeo!), and then the Triple 8 Vectra of Yvan Muller. Fortunately, the Vauxhall team were able to tape the bonnet shut for Muller to finish in 10th place.
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The mandatory pit-stops livened things up even more, with a heart-stopping moment for Matt Neal as he stalled the Primera. Luckily he got it going again, but not before he lost the lead and the next 3 positions! Relegated to 5th, Neal put on a storming display - ducking and diving, overtaking. If a works team does not offer him a job next year I would be very surprised. Matt drove like a true professional. This was rewarded when he finally reeled in James Thompson and took the chequered flag 5 seconds ahead of the Honda. Full results below.
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Season Preview
Rounds 3/4
