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Driver’s Blog – Matt on Honda Yuasa Racing’s Oulton Park podium hat-trick

We went into the weekend with realistic expectations as Flash and I were both carrying a lot of success ballast. This makes it very tough around Oulton Park with all its stops and starts, so we were super pleased with the qualifying performance and to be second and fifth on the grid was a testament to how far the new Type R has come on! I missed out on pole by just 100th of a second, which I think is only about 4 inches!

I’m still gutted about missing out on the win in race three, but to walk away from the weekend with very little damage on such a tight fast circuit and a second, a third and a fourth as my results was really positive. It’s my best weekend of the season so far and we got some really solid points and results for both of us in the drivers and as importantly Honda Yuasa Racing in the Teams and Manufacturers race.

Matt Neal (GBR) Honda Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R

Oulton Park is probably one of the hardest circuits in the country for brake wear so we actually ran five new sets of brakes on each car over the weekend, the track just munches them with the weight we’re forced to carry and heavy braking zones.

With the Type R we’re still learning all the time with this car. Oulton Park was the first weekend we’ve run with a new German Dunlop tyre, which proved very consistent and was good. I think we need a little bit of learning with that to truly exploit it and see what we can get out of it.

Matt Neal (GBR) Honda Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R

We were also trying some new things with the engine which were very positive and worked well. I think that’s why we were right up there in qualifying as it gave us a little bit more speed down the straights. We can only use these so much, as the weather gets warmer we have to be careful on how close we run the engine.

Looking forward, Croft has always been a good hunting ground for me so I’m really hopeful we will have a strong weekend there. I’m going to be carrying the same weight, and Flash is going to be carrying less than he has been so hopefully that should see both of us on the attack.

Matt Neal (GBR) Honda Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R

Croft has a real good mixture, with a lot of high speed, big commitment corners and that’s where the Type R comes into its own. Its high speed stability and its aero is brilliant. I’m really excited, I want it to come tomorrow but we’re just going to have to bide our time for the three weeks between now and then and just wait for it.

Hopefully we should be strong everywhere this season.

Matt Neal

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