Matt Neal: continuity could be the key

By Dave Brockman:

19 March 2004

Matt Neal took six race wins last year driving for the works Honda team but poor early-season reliability cost him the title. This year Matt is back with his family-run outfit Team Dynamics and will be hoping at the very least to lift the Independents' Cup. Just before the test session at Donington we asked him for his thoughts.

I've got the 13th season out of the way and hopefully I've had all my bad luck last year!
Matt Neal

Welcome back, this is now your 14th season in touring cars isn't it?

Yup, I'm glad it's the 14th because I've got the 13th season out of the way and hopefully I've had all my bad luck last year!

Obviously you'll be hoping for more reliability this year but is the championship a realistic prospect?

You never know what hand everybody else is hiding, and then of course you've got to have the luck on your side which we didn't have last year - that's an understatement.

You're obviously very familiar with the car having driven it last year, presumably that's a help.

I think that's one of the advantages that Triple Eight have had over everybody else up until now: it's a familiar package which they're continuing whereas everybody else is building new cars or getting used to new drivers, so maybe this is something we can use to our advantage.

What have you changed on the car over the winter which can help you?

The stickers!

Arena have been working with Team Dynamics and vice-versa, there's various updated bits for 2004 and there's also new engines. Dynamics are trying a slightly different route to get to the same place as Arena so it'll be very interesting to see how the two cars and teams compare.

I think Arena have got some pretty good drivers lined up but the deal with Gareth is very close.

What will you be looking for in today's test session?

To be honest a bit of it will be learning the circuit again. They've re-surfaced it and taken a lot of the curbs out for the bikes, and it's like an ice rink out there so we might see people spinning off in all different directions.

Other than that we'll just be trying a few bits out and looking for a quick lap time.

What else have you been up to over the winter?

A nice holiday, not a lot else. I'll be doing a little bit for ITV with Pulling Power. I don't think I'll be winning any Oscars just yet but it keeps me out of trouble. Jason's doing his own thing as well with Speed Sunday so we'll all be on ITV at this rate!