Matt Neal ready for 2003One of the most popular drivers in the BTCC, Matt Neal took his egg|sport Vauxhall Astra to 3rd place in the Championship, scoring three wins. For 2003 he moves to the increasingly sucessful Honda Racing team, and at the Brands Hatch testing day he spoke to us about his feelings on the year ahead.Do you still look forward to these launches after all your years in motorsport? 
I probably don't get the nerves about them as much as I used to. It seems like ages ago that it was eight weeks until the first race, it seemed like miles away. Now suddenly it's two weeks, the weekend after next. And when I start to think that, I do get butterflies in my stomach because I just want to do well at the first race. It's coming up and suddenly the pressure's going to be on.
Any reason to think that you won't do well at the first race? The car seems pretty sorted. That's the problem: everything feels too good to be true at the minute, and I'm waiting for something to go wrong. I've got a superstitious head on me! Have you had much running in testing? Yes, a fair bit. We've had a competitive test against MG and they seem to be able to screw a fairly good time out of the thing. So far ourselves and Vauxhall haven't met - we've had a brief test at Thruxton - it will be interesting to see where we're at. So how did the drive with Honda come about? I think I'd originally spoken to Mike [Earle, Honda boss] in about May of last year, and then again at the end of the season and it just went on from there. There were political issues which you'd get with any manufacturer. Do the cars feel much different to drive? Very. Considering they're built to the same regs with control parts and the same tyres, they're different animals to drive. When I got in it originally it was totally different to the Vauxhall. Now it's getting a little more similar in its drivability, which is one of the strengths of the Vauxhall. You've joked about not helping your team mates, but is there a good atmosphere between you all? Oh yes. You know I think that's one of the things they struggled with last year, with Andy [Priaulx]. He wanted to do his own thing and prove that he was the fastest. I think maybe they had the feeling and Alan had the feeling that the team suffered for it because they couldn't work together and move forward. I've said to Alan, and Tom's aware of it as well, that we'll work together. It's going to be luck who wins if we're in with a shout. Luck as to who gets the puncture, who's engine blows, anything like that. If he wins it I'll have the biggest party ever for him, and if I win it he'll do the same! If you do get to the point where one of you is in contention for the Championship, would you consider team orders then? Maybe, yes. It depends on the scenario. It's in the contract that you do the best thing for Honda Racing. Any particular race you're looking forward to this year? I'm not sure really, I've been to all of them so many times before. At Rockingham obviously we're on the infield and I've only run on the oval. I've never raced in anger on the infield but I've driven round there a few times so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I hope! For atmosphere though you can't beat this place, because it's the stadium and the noise, you can't beat Brands for atmosphere. It should be a good weekend, especially with Champ Cars here. Are you hoping you might get noticed by a big team? Too big, too old mate! Justin Wilson can fit in a Formula One car though! Hey that's a point, I wouldn't mind having a go in his actually! (C)2003 www.BTCCinfo.co.uk BTCCinfo home |