Matthew Stephen Phillip Neal (born 20 December 1966) is a British motor racing driver. Neal is a triple BTCC Champion having won the British Touring Car Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2011. Neal is also a record 6 time BTCC Independents Champion having won the title in 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2005 and 2006. He is also a race winner in the European Touring Car Championship. He is 6' 6" (2m) tall, making him almost entirely unable to race single-seaters. He is also the Group Marketing Director at Rimstock, the alloy wheel manufacturer founded by his father Steve.[1]
Born in Stourbridge, 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.[2] He also co-drove a BMW M3 to victory at the 1990 Willhire 24 Hour race at Snetterton.
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. The car was badly damaged in an accident 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 a Nissan Primera, the first Independent to do so in the modern era, winning him a £250,000 prize from BTCC series promoter Alan J. Gow.[3] He took a further win a year later, having been considered a driver to cause a surprise in the championship.[4][5] 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.
British GT Championship (1998)
Neal drove a one-off appearance in the British GT Championship during the 1998 British Grand Prix-supporting race. He finished third, sharing a Porsche 911 GT1 with David Leslie.[6]
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, taking one win in the final round in Portugal.
A one-off appearance in the ASCAR championship at the end of 2002 saw him running as teammate to his future rival Jason Plato. 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 teammates Tom Chilton and Alan Morrison.
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. Neal finished every single race in the points, the first driver to do so since the calendar expanded to 30 races per year.
In 2006, Neal drove the No. 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. After 2 years without a mechanical failure, Neal had a suspension failure before the start of the final race.
BTC-spec cars such as the Integra were no longer eligible for the main 2007 title, so Dynamics switched to a Honda Civic, using some of their existing running gear but doing development themselves. Neal won the third race of the season, but overall the SEAT and Vauxhall entries were faster, leaving Neal unable to fight for the title. A huge crash in race 1 of the second meeting at Brands Hatch left him briefly hospitalised; the lost points from this saw teammate Gordon Shedden outpoint him to finish 3rd overall, with Neal 4th. He attracted controversy during the season's final race, in which Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jason Plato fought for the drivers' title. Having signed on as a Vauxhall driver for 2008, Neal let Vauxhall drivers Giovanardi and Tom Chilton through without a fight, but did not do the same for SEAT driver Jason Plato, ensuring Giovanardi would win the title.
VX Racing (2008–2009)
In his first year for VX Racing in 2008, he took just one win at Rockingham, while teammate Giovanardi took five wins on the way to retaining his title. Neal finished the year 5th in the standings. After a strong start to 2009, winning the opening race at Brands Hatch, he failed to win again all season, finishing fourth in the standings behind Giovanardi.
Neal returned to Team Dynamics for the 2010 season, now racing under the Honda Racing banner alongside former teammate Gordon Shedden.[7] Neal lost out in the drivers championship to Jason Plato late in the season but he helped Honda Racing take the Manufacturers and Teams Championships.
Neal stayed with Honda in 2011,[8] with the Honda Civic now using a 2.0 NGTC Honda engine built by Neil Brown Engines.[9] For much of the season the Civics had an advantage over the rest of the field and after a closely fought title battle with his teammate, Neal took his third drivers' title – after 2005 and 2006 – for the Honda Racing team at the final round at Silverstone,[10] this helping his team to secure the Manufacturers and Constructors title.
In 2012, Neal drove the new NGTC Honda Civic. He took the first ever win for an NGTC car in the British Touring Car Championship in the second race of the season at Brands Hatch.[11] Neal won two more races at Oulton Park and with teammate Shedden taking the other win, Honda Yuasa Racing Team became the first team to win all three races in a day since Team Aon won all three races at Silverstone in 2010.[12][13] He finished the season second in the championship behind teammate Shedden.
Neal stayed with Honda for the 2013 season alongside Shedden.[14] Prior to the Silverstone round Neal broke his finger in a martial arts accident but was passed fitted to race by a doctor[15] He underwent surgery before the season finale at Brands Hatch, Alain Menu tested for the team as a possible substitute for Neal in the event he was unable to race.[16] Neal finished the year 4th in the championship, two places behind teammate Shedden.
He was again paired with Shedden for the 2014 season, this time driving the new Honda Civic Tourer. Neal was placed 9th in the overall standings.
For the 2021 season, Neal made no appearances on the BTCC grid for the first time since his debut in 1991, after Team Dynamics lost backing from Honda and GS Yuasa and obtained sponsorship from Cataclean: as a result the team fielded Shedden and Cataclean-backed driver Daniel Rowbottom as their 2021 line-up. According to Neal the team secured a sponsor to field a third car for him, however this was scuppered when other teams objected to the plan. He described the enforced break in his BTCC career as "not a retirement".[17]
He has appeared on Top Gear multiple times. He first raced in the Historic People Carrier race in Series 5. He participated in a football match using Toyota Aygos in Series 6 driving for James May's team. He raced a Mitsubishi L300 motorhome in the tenth series during a motorhome race. Neal appeared once again in Series 12's Bus Race, driving an Optare MetroRider. He then appeared in Series 14's airport vehicles race.[20] In Series 20, episode 2 he drove a Mercedes-Benz E-Class in a taxi race. Elsewhere Neal has worked alongside Martin Haven as a co-commentator on Eurosport's coverage of the former World Touring Car Championship since 2010 and currently the World Touring Car Cup.[21]
In March 2015 he drove for Milltek Sport in their diesel Golf in the Mugello 12hr race finishing second in class, a week later driving a 500Hp 1979 Bastos Chevrolet Camaro with David Clark he won the Gerry Marshall Trophy race at the Goodwood Members Meeting.
During his 2021 sabbatical, Neal linked up with Jason Plato for a live recording of a BTCC-themed podcast.[24]
Fitness
Matt Neal has stated that he keeps fit through training in martial arts, which gives him better aerobic fitness and flexibility. In 2012 Matt achieved the grade of 2nd dan black belt in the British Free Fighting Academy, after training with martial arts instructor Andy Hopwood.[25]
Racing record
Complete British Touring Car Championship results
(key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 1996–2002 all races, 2003–present just in first race, 2000–2003 in class) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – 2001–present all races, 2000–2003 in class) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point awarded – 1998–2002 just in feature races, 2003–present all races)
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season. The championship, currently running Next Generation Touring Car regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Group 2, FIA Group 5, FIA Group 1, FIA Group A, FIA Super Touring and FIA Super 2000. A lower-key Group N class for production cars ran from 2000 until 2003.
Timothy Jason Plato is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He has finished in the top 3 in the Championship 12 times and holds the record for the most overall race wins in the BTCC. He has also served as a presenter on the motoring television series Fifth Gear since 2004.
Fabrizio Giovanardi is an Italian racing driver. During his career he has won ten touring car titles, including European and British crowns making him the most successful touring car driver worldwide. He has spent the majority of his career racing for Alfa Romeo and Vauxhall.
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Team Dynamics Motorsport was a UK-based motor-racing team based in Droitwich, Worcestershire; best known for their successes in the British Touring Car Championship, including winning the Overall Drivers title in 2005, 2006 and 2011 with Matt Neal and 2012, 2015 and 2016 with Gordon Shedden. The team was founded by Steve Neal and former driver of Vic Lee Motorsport, Ray Bellm when they acquired its assets in 1993. For the following season, Bellm, having bought a majority stake in the Silverstone-based motorsport equipment retailer, Grand Prix Racewear, also acquired a McLaren F1 GTR and went his own way.
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Mathew Jackson is a former British racing driver.
The 1998 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship featured 26 races across 13 rounds, it commenced at Thruxton on 13 April and ended at Silverstone on 20 September.
The 1995 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship was won by John Cleland in a Vauxhall Cavalier. The Independents' title was won by Matt Neal in his Team Dynamics Ford Mondeo with fourteen class wins.
Andrew Phillip Jordan is a British racing driver, who has driven in the British Touring Car Championship. He was the 2013 British Touring Car Champion.
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The 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 53rd British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. It began at Thruxton Circuit on 4 April and finished after 30 races over ten events at Brands Hatch on 10 October.
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The 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was a multi-event motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. It is one of the most popular domestic motor racing series in the United Kingdom, with an extensive program of support categories built up around the BTCC centrepiece. It was the 55th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.
The 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was a multi-event motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of Family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. It is one of the most popular domestic motor racing series in the United Kingdom, with an extensive program of support categories built up around the BTCC centrepiece. It was the 56th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.
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