Matt Neal

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Matt Neal bigraphy, stories - British racing driver.

Matt Neal : biography

20 December 1966 –

Matthew Neal (born 20 December 1966 in Stourbridge) is a British motor racing driver. He won the British Touring Car Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2011. He is also a race winner in the European Touring Car Championship. He is 6′ 6" (2 m) tall, making him almost entirely unable to race single-seaters. He is also the Group Marketing Director at Rimstock plc, the alloy wheel manufacturer founded by his father Steve.http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/birmingham-business-news/other-uk-business/2006/04/13/racer-matt-forced-off-track-65233-16942038/

Career

Early Years

Neal started out in Motocross but moved into cars in 1988, driving in the Ford Fiesta XR2i category. He was the British Group N Champion in 1990 and 1991, he also co-drove a BMW M3 to victory at the 1990 Willhire 24 Hour race at Snetterton.

British Touring Car Championship (1991–2001)

Neal demonstrates his Honda Integra at the 2006 [[Goodwood Festival of Speed.]]

Neal made his BTCC debut with Pyramid Motorsport at the Silverstone round of the 1991 BTCC season driving a BMW M3. He finished 13th in his first race before returning to the series two rounds later at Oulton Park with the Auto Trader Techspeed Team in another BMW M3. After that race he would race for the team two rounds later at Donington Park. For 1992 he joined his father’s Team Dynamics team driving the BMW M3 which Will Hoy had taken to the championship title the year before until the car was badly damaged forcing Neal to switch to the new BMW 318 for the final race of the season.

He won the Total Cup for drivers without manufacturer support in 1993, before joining Mazda for a season cut short by a huge crash in round five at Silverstone. He rejoined Dynamics for 1995, remaining for several years and he occasionally humbled the big names, as well as winning the Independents’ title three further times in 1995, 1999 and 2000. In 1999 he caused a sensation by winning a race at Donington Park in his Nissan, the first Independent to do so in the modern era, winning him a £250,000 prize. He took a further win a year later. The championship’s regulations changed for 2001, and Neal briefly joined Peugeot Sport UK before sitting out most of the season to race in the European Touring Car Championship.

European Touring Car Championship (2001)

After racing in one round of the British Touring Car Championship, Neal switched to the European Touring Car Championship’s Super Touring category with RJN Motorsport and their Nissan Primera starting with Round 5 at Magny-Cours. He finished the championship placed 14th in the drivers standings on 266 points.

Return to the BTCC (2002–2003)

He returned with egg:sport in 2002 driving a Vauxhall Astra Coupé alongside Paul O’Neill. He finished 3rd in the championship, ahead of his team mate on 145 points. For 2003 he switched to Honda Racing to drive a Honda Civic Type R, the start of long and mainly undisturbed relationship with Honda. Once again he finished 3rd in the championship ahead of team mates Tom Chilton and Alan Morrison.

Back to Team Dynamics (2004–2007)

BTCC title in 2006.]]

Neal rejoined Team Dynamics (now with Halfords sponsorship), finishing 5th in the overall Drivers Championship and 4th in the Independents Championship.

For 2005 the team developed a Honda Integra from its basic road-going form, which was an unusual move as independent teams have historically raced ex-works cars, but the team’s efforts were rewarded as Neal eventually took the drivers’ title in the last round at Brands Hatch. Dynamics, as Team Halfords also clinched the Teams and Independent Teams Championships. It is also to be noted that Neal finished every single race in the points, the first driver to do so since the calendar expanded to 30 races per year.

Team Halfords-run Honda Civic at Snetterton in the 2007 BTCC season.]]

In 2006, Neal drove the #1 Honda Integra and captured the championship again with a string of consistent finishes; 4th place in round 28 being enough to clinch his second title. Ironically, after 2 years without a mechanical failure, Neal had a suspension failure before the start of the final race.