Matt Neal told TCF that he was relieved to put a difficult Snetterton visit behind him with victory at the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s visit to Knockhill.
The triple BTCC champion caught and passed the Mercedes pairing of Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan in the second half of the third and final race of the day in Fife, Neal lunging inside Morgan at the hairpin heading onto the final lap of the race.
The result comes following a disappointing meeting for the Honda Yuasa Racing squad at Snetterton two weekends ago, both himself and Gordon Shedden‘s Scottish victories moving them back into championship contention.
“We certainly needed it after Snetterton,” Neal said to The Checkered Flag afterwards.
“I took a while to get past Aiden,” explained Neal on the final race battle with the two Mercedes drivers.
“That allowed Adam to make a break and then I really got my head down, keeping in contact with the pits just to keep up with what times he’s doing. I thought I’ve got to just keep my head down and then about five or six laps to go I thought it wasn’t happening, but you’ve got to keep going.
“Then he got the bit of debris and then I saw this opportunity and then I thought I’d have a go then, but then I thought that was him finished, but then he picked up speed again and I thought that was it gone.
“Then he defended the inside to the hairpin on the last but one lap but just left enough as he came back for the apex he left a cars width in there on all the marbles so I just rolled it up on the inside. I was watching the mirror on the last lap. A great way to end the weekend.”
The Honda man now sits just 22 points behind championship leader Jason Plato after his victory in race three, admitting that the team are in as strong a position than ever.
“I’m looking forward to all the last three [meetings],” added Neal ahead of the final three meetings of the season.
“Silverstone could be a bit shaky, but I think we’ll be stronger than we’ve ever been there, the other two really looking forward to.
“What a way to bounce back. It just shows how you need the luck on your side because Snetterton we were looking forward to we thought we’d be strong, Knockhill we weren’t. BMR have had a similar weekend to what we had at Snetterton and it just shows you how quickly it can turn around.”