A PUNCTURE relegated Droitwich driver Matt Neal to 16th place in the first race of the latest rounds of the HiQ British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Knockhill, Scotland.

Things improved for Neal in the second race of the day — round 23 of the championsip — when he drove solidly to 10th place, the final point-scoring position, despite starting from 16th on the grid.

However, Neal saved his best performance for the final race of the day when he secured more points for his VX Racing team with a seventh-placed finish.

He enjoyed a superb start to round 24, climbing from 10th to fifth place by lap five.

An incident in the later stages of the race saw him demoted to seventh place, however, which he maintained until the finish.

Neal said: “It was an eventful weekend for me!

“When you are at the back like I was in the first two races, you have to fight your way through as you are right in the thick of most battles.

“It was a tough weekend as the racing at Knockhill is so tight.

“I just missed on the reverse grid for race three, but managed to make up quite a few places in the earlier part of the race.

“The car felt absolutely fantastic, I could have been on the podium with it but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

“We got a good tally of points between all three of us though which is the main thing.”

Leading the standings by 171 points from fierce rivals SEAT, VX Racing have now provisionally clinched their first title for 2008, with drivers collecting a pair of second and third places finishes throughout the day.