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Matt Neal

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Career BTCC Results Matt Neal Photo Feature

Above: Matt Neal, 2005 BTCC Champion.		Nationality: English Date of birth: 20 December 1966 Place of birth: Birmingham, England Status: Married, two sons Website: www.mattneal.co.uk BTCC Debut: Silverstone, 14 July 1991, BMW M3 BTCC Races: 391* BTCC Wins: 31* BTCC Podiums: 96* BTCC Points: 1890* BTCC Seasons: 19 after Round 15 2009 Matt Neal is one of the British Touring Car Championship's most successful and lasting stars, having competed in over 300 races. Throughout most of the super touring era, Matt was supported by the fans for being the underdog racing in the Independent's category for Team Dynamics. Indeed, he was the first ever Independent racer to win a BTCC race, taking his first ever victory at Donington Park in 1999 and winning himself a cheque for £250,000 for doing so.
In 2005, he became the first driver to take the British Touring Car Championship title whilst racing for an Independent team. Neal began his racing career back in 1988 when he contested the winter Ford Credit Fiesta Championship at Brands Hatch. He then moved up through the national championships, coming first in both Classes A and B of the British Group N Championship before moving into the BTCC for the first time in 1991 with the TechSpeed Team. Neal has long been associated with the Independent's category in the BTCC, and has raced in 13 seasons since 1991 in the Independent's category (the only exceptions being a brief season with Mazda in '94, the opening meeting of '01 with Peugeot and with Honda in '03). In his first season of the BTCC, Neal only completed in a handful of races in a BMW M3 but his performances were enough to ensure he got another go the following year. In 1992, Neal joined his father, Steve Neal's, outfit, Team Dynamics, for the start of a long association with the team. In his first full season of the BTCC, he came second in the Independent's category, although back in these days of the super touring era the Independent's were not competing as close to the top end as they are today due to costs being so much higher then. For 1994 Neal joined the works Mazda team, but a large crash at Silverstone at the fourth meeting of the year meant that he missed most of the season. Neal rejoined Team Dynamics for 1995, and won the first of his 4 independent titles at the helm of a Ford Mondeo. An impressive run of 14 class wins meant that he beat the opposition comfortably. The following two seasons, still with the Team Dynamics-prepared Ford Mondeo weren't as good as his 1995 season, as he finished 3rd and 4th in the independent's championship respectively. 1998 was Team Dynamic's first campaign with the ex-works Nissan Primera, and it was about this time that things started to come good again. 13th overall in the championship, Neal had begun to challenge the top-end works cars throughout the season, although the independent's title once again eluded him as, despite some strong finishes, he wasn't the most consistent performer during the season. One of the most famous single victories was secured by Matt Neal in 1999 as he became the first driver ever to win a race outright in the BTCC whilst driving for an independent team. The impressive achievement had been threating to happen for some time, and finally happened at Donington Park where Matt picked up a cheque for £250,000. The rest of the season was also equally impressive for Matt as he romped to 20 independent victories out of 26 races and picked up his second independent's title in the championship.

As if the 1999 season wasn't good enough, in 2000 Neal repeated his independent's victory, this time at Brands Hatch. He also improved on his number of class wins from the previous season, this time taking 21 out of 24 - an impressive 87%, and finished 8th overall in the championship. However, with the end of the super touring era, Neal left Team Dynamics and attempted to pull together a drive with Peugeot for 2001. He only made the first meeting of the year as sponsorship and funding fell through and it wouldn't be until 2002 that Neal returned to a full BTCC season.		Above: Matt Neal racing for Team Dynamics in the 2000 BTCC
Instead, Neal raced in the European Touring Car Championship in 2001 and took a race win and 5 podiums for Team Dynamics.
Above: Matt Neal at Brands Hatch, June 2006		For 2005, Team Dynamics opted to build their own car, one which is not available in the UK - a Honda Integra. The streamline shape of the car making it ideal for motorsport, the team spent much of the winter testing and developing for the 2005 season. With continued backing from Halfords, the team was rebranded 'Team Halfords'. Straight from the first race, Neal was the man to catch and it stayed that way all season, with Neal taking 6 wins.
But it was consistency that was behind Neal as he became the first driver to score in every round since the inception of the 30-round calendar. Not only this, but Neal again achieved an independent-first as the first non-works driver to lift the championship.

Career Rundown

2008:	British Touring Car Championship, VX Racing, Vauxhall Vectra 5th overall, 1 win
2007:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Halfords, Honda Civic 4th overall, 1 win
2006:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Halfords, Honda Integra Champion, 8 wins
2005:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Halfords, Honda Integra Champion, 6 wins, Scored in every round
2004:	British Touring Car Championship, Computeach Racing with Halfords, Honda Civic Type-R 5th overall, 3 wins
2003:	British Touring Car Championship, Honda Racing, Honda Civic Type-R 3rd overall, 5 wins
2002:	British Touring Car Championship, Egg:Sport, Vauxhall Astra Coupe 3rd overall, 3 wins
2001:	British Touring Car Championship, Peugeot Sport UK, Peugeot 406 Coupe 14th overall, Opening 2 rounds only European Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics, Nissan Primera 1 win, 5 podiums Australian V8 Supercar series, Paul Morris' Holden Team Selected races
2000:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics Max Power Racing, Nissan Primera 8th overall, 1 win, Champion in class, 21 class wins Bathurst 1000km 12th overall
1999:	British Touring Car Championship, Max Power Racing Team Dynamics, Nissan Primera 9th overall, 1 win (1st outright independent win), Champion in class, 20 class wins Nurburgring 24 hours 3rd in GT class
1998:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics Max Power, Nissan Primera 13th overall, 3rd in class, 11 class wins Bathurst 1000km 2nd overall
1997:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics, Ford Mondeo 4th in class, 6 class wins
1996:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics, Ford Mondeo 22nd overall, 3rd in class, 3 class wins
1995:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics, Ford Mondeo 21st overall, Champion in class, 14 class wins FIA World Touring Car Cup 11th overall (1st privateer)
1994:	British Touring Car Championship, Mazda Works, Mazda Xedos 6 23rd overall (season cut short by accident) FIA World Touring Car Cup
1993:	British Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics, BMW 318is 20th overall, Champion in class, 4 class wins
1992:	British Tourinmg Car Championship, Rimstock Racing, BMW M3 / BMW 318is 16th overall, 2nd in class ToCa Shootout, BMW 318is, 6th - Donington Park
1991:	British Touring Car Championship, Auto Trader Techspeed Team, BMW M3 26th overall, Selected races British Group N Championship, Nissan Skyline 1st in Class A
1990:	British Group N Champion, BMW M3 1st in Class B Willhire 24 hours - 1st
1989:	Ford Fiesta XR2i Championship 4th overall
1988:	Ford Credit Fiesta Brands Hatch Winter Series 2nd overall
1985:	Motocross and Karting

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