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Matt Neal admits taking pole will be tough against rear-wheel drive cars

Second practice pace-setter Matt Neal admits that taking pole in the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park will be tough, citing the challenge from the rear-wheel drive cars as one of the key challenges.

Neal was quickest in a wet second practice session, putting in the fastest lap of the session late on as rain came down throughout.

The three-time champion explained that the conditions almost caught him out several times, including before team-mate Gordon ‘Flash’ Shedden had his own off-track excursion.

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“It was tricky,” said Neal to TouringCars.Net. “I had a couple of big moments especially where Flash slipped off, literally the lap before he did, so it was tricky, but we managed to get to the end.

“I think the opposition is tough out there, but we hit the sweet spot with the car in the conditions. Sometimes the track goes slower as it’s getting drier; you get less standing water out there.”

With no further rain forecast for Saturday, Neal admits that taking pole will be tough up against the rear-wheel drive BMW and Subaru cars, adding that he’d prefer for qualifying to be also affected by the rain.

“It means I’m king of the rain for the weekend, which is one thing, but in the dry we’ve had limited running because a lot of FP1 was scrubbing tyres and stuff in.

“It’s going to be a little bit of a journey into the unknown for us all. If it’s similar conditions, I’d be hopeful for qualifying.

“Pole is going to be tough against the rear-wheel drive cars, but I’d like to try and target the front two rows if I can, because grid position is paramount here.”

Neal added that drivers have been warned about making excessive contact during overtaking manoeuvres ahead of the weekend’s races in Cheshire.

“It’s tough, and the stewards gave us a bit of a drilling about overtaking in the driver’s briefing:  ‘don’t put your nose up the inside of anybody, don’t do this, don’t do that and basically don’t overtake’.”

Qualifying is scheduled for 15:50 BST.

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