After taking two more wins to take his 2011 win tally to five, Matt Neal says that the Croft weekend went much better than he was expecting. The Honda Racing Team driver increased his championship lead from 2 points to 9 and strengthened his grip on the championship in the process.
“If you had have offered me two podium finishes coming in to this weekend, I would have taken them,” said Neal. “To get two wins and then more points in race three was better than we could have imagined. The Honda Racing Team car has been fantastic this weekend. We have worked hard on getting the most out of the handling of the Civic chassis which really is a benefit in the wet weather – the entire Honda Racing Team crew has been at the top of its game this weekend and that is what has helped us to get the results.”
Neal’s Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden was second in the standings going into this weekend’s meeting but after failing to take a points finish the Scotsman has now slipped to third overall, 20 points adrift of Neal. Shedden himself still took away three consistent points finishes, but says that he was never completely comfortable with his car at the North Yorkshire track.
“I was never really in the sweet spot with the handling of the car but we still walked away with three top six finishes,” said Shedden. “I am frustrated that I couldn’t have been on the podium like Matt but I know the potential is there in the car and we just have to work on finding it.
“We have got a seven-week break in the championship now before the next rounds at Snetterton, so we have plenty of time to go back through the data that we get from this meeting to work out the areas that will push me even further forwards. This wasn’t a perfect weekend for me, but it wasn’t a disaster either. In this series, it is all about consistently scoring points.”