NEAL HAS WEIGHT WORRIES FOR SILVERSTONE
Matt Neal fears carrying the series leader’s maximum
success ballast in his car will affect him more than ever
in this weekend’s crucial, title-deciding final three
Dunlop MSA British Touring car Championship Finals rounds
at Silverstone.
As championship leader, Neal’s Team Halfords Honda
Integra must contest all of Saturday's free practice and qualifying
sessions and the first of Sunday’s three races laden
with an extra 45kgs of weight.
The Droitwich driver has had to cope with the ballast for
the opening phases of the last seven race meetings, having
led the standings since Mondello Park in April. But Silverstone’s
short National circuit – where the title outcome will
be decided on Sunday – could make life tougher than
at any other track.
Neal said: "It’s such a simple circuit, with three
long straights and four corners that it doesn’t take
a lot for more drivers to be right up there on the front-running
pace.
"Any weight penalty on a track like that is going to
hurt probably more than anywhere else because every fraction
of a second counts and the ballast will affect my car."
Neal, though, believes he can still put up a fight thanks
to his Honda’s slippery aerodynamic shape that has made
it a potent force on faster circuits.
He added: "Those three long straights could help –
the Integra is very good at the end of the straights against
something like the SEAT. I expect I’ll lose out with
one hand, but then maybe gain with the other."
Neal also said he had expected his closest challenger Jason
Plato’s team SEAT to give Team Halfords a much more
difficult time in fighting for this year’s championship.
Plato needs to overcome a 35-point deficit to Neal in Sunday’s
three races if he's to win the Drivers' title, while Team
Halfords holds a 55-point lead over SEAT Sport UK in the fight
to be Teams’ champion.
"I do believe that we haven’t won this championship
– SEAT has lost it," said Neal. "Its car,
the Leon, is very good and very fast. But we’ve kept
plugging away and picking up the wins and it’s been
their misfortune or whatever that’s enabled us to get
into this position."
|
