Matt Neal has suffered a broken front suspension after clashing with Colin Turkington at the start of the first British Touring Car Championship race of the season at Brands Hatch.
It remains to be seen if the works Honda will start the second race from the rear of the field. Turkington’s damage is understood by TouringCars.net to be a broken rear tow-link, but otherwise cosmetic and he is expected to take the start.
Team BMW have put in a complaint against Neal to championship organisers TOCA in light of the incident.
The two came together from the start as Neal pulled over to cover the fast-starting BMW 125i M Sport on the inside line. Contact was made with the left-rear of Turkington and the two span back across the circuit onto the grass opposite pole position, narrowly avoiding the rest of the field.
“Fifth I thought was a good place to start”, Turkington told TouringCars.net afterwards. “Gordon was ahead, but it’s Matt that’s come down and closed the door.
“The tyre’s come off the rim and there’s a broken toe-link. It’s just cosmetic.”
Neal, meanwhile, blamed the gradient of the circuit and claimed Turkington went for a gap too small to pass in.
“I got a bit of wheel-spin off the line at the start”, Neal said. “By the nature of the circuit I was coming down the hill a little bit.
“Colin seemed to get a blinding start behind me but then went for a gap that was ever decreasing. It’s broken the front suspension.”