RACE ace Matt Neal is hoping for better fortune when the British Touring Car Championship moves on to Silverstone this weekend.

The 36-year-old from Hanbury, near Droitwich, led both races in his Honda Civic Type R in the last meeting at Thruxton, before his progress was curtailed by a slow pit stop and puncture respectively.

He stands fifth in the championship, 49 points adrift of leader Yvan Muller ahead of tomorrow's two races.

Neal said: "We're now at the stage where we can have a straight fight with any of the other cars. I'd say that the car has the edge over the competition in some places.

"All we need to do now is to get all three cars running at the front at the same time and to be working as a team.

"There's no doubt that we ran well at Thruxton. From a personal point of view, luck wasn't on my side, but it won't always be like that. I'm a great believer that fate will eventually swing back in my favour."