1. Matthew Stephen Phillip Neal was born on 20 December 1966 and is a British motor racing driver.
41 Facts About Matt Neal
1. 2.
Matt Neal is a record 6 time BTCC Independents Champion having won the title in 1993,1995,1999,2000,2005 and 2006.
3.
Matt Neal is a race winner in the European Touring Car Championship.
4.
Matt Neal is the Group Marketing Director at Rimstock, the alloy wheel manufacturer founded by his father Steve.
5.
Matt Neal was the British Group N Champion in 1990 and 1991.
6.
Matt Neal made his BTCC debut with Pyramid Motorsport at the Silverstone round of the 1991 BTCC season driving a BMW M3.
7.
Matt Neal finished 13th in his first race before returning to the series two rounds later at Oulton Park with the Auto Trader Techspeed Team in another BMW M3.
8.
Matt Neal won the Total Cup for drivers without manufacturer support in 1993, before joining Mazda for a season cut short by a huge crash in round five at Silverstone.
9.
Matt Neal rejoined Dynamics for 1995, remaining for several years and he occasionally humbled the big names, as well as winning the Independents' title three further times in 1995,1999 and 2000.
10.
Matt Neal took a further win a year later, having been considered a driver to cause a surprise in the championship.
11.
The championship's regulations changed for 2001, and Matt Neal briefly joined Peugeot Sport UK before sitting out most of the season to race in the European Touring Car Championship.
12.
Matt Neal drove a one-off appearance in the British GT Championship during the 1998 British Grand Prix-supporting race.
13.
Matt Neal finished third, sharing a Porsche 911 GT1 with David Leslie.
14.
Matt Neal finished the championship placed 14th in the drivers standings on 266 points, taking one win in the final round in Portugal.
15.
Matt Neal returned with egg:sport in 2002 driving a Vauxhall Astra Coupe alongside Paul O'Neill.
16.
Matt Neal finished 3rd in the championship, ahead of his teammate on 145 points.
17.
Matt Neal rejoined Team Dynamics, finishing 5th in the overall Drivers Championship and 4th in the Independents Championship.
18.
For 2005 the team developed a Honda Integra from its basic road-going form, which was an unusual move as independent teams have historically raced ex-works cars, but the team's efforts were rewarded as Matt Neal eventually took the drivers' title in the last round at Brands Hatch.
19.
Matt Neal finished every single race in the points, the first driver to do so since the calendar expanded to 30 races per year.
20.
In 2006, Matt Neal drove the No 1 Honda Integra and captured the championship again with a string of consistent finishes; 4th place in round 28 being enough to clinch his second title.
21.
Matt Neal won the third race of the season, but overall the SEAT and Vauxhall entries were faster, leaving Matt Neal unable to fight for the title.
22.
Matt Neal attracted controversy during the season's final race, in which Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jason Plato fought for the drivers' title.
23.
Matt Neal returned to Team Dynamics for the 2010 season, now racing under the Honda Racing banner alongside former teammate Gordon Shedden.
24.
Matt Neal lost out in the drivers championship to Jason Plato late in the season but he helped Honda Racing take the Manufacturers and Teams Championships.
25.
Matt Neal stayed with Honda in 2011, with the Honda Civic now using a 2.0 NGTC Honda engine built by Neil Brown Engines.
26.
Matt Neal took the first ever win for an NGTC car in the British Touring Car Championship in the second race of the season at Brands Hatch.
27.
Matt Neal won two more races at Oulton Park and with teammate Shedden taking the other win, Honda Yuasa Racing Team became the first team to win all three races in a day since Team Aon won all three races at Silverstone in 2010.
28.
Matt Neal finished the season second in the championship behind teammate Shedden.
29.
Matt Neal stayed with Honda for the 2013 season alongside Shedden.
30.
Matt Neal finished the year 4th in the championship, two places behind teammate Shedden.
31.
Matt Neal was again paired with Shedden for the 2014 season, this time driving the new Honda Civic Tourer.
32.
Matt Neal described the enforced break in his BTCC career as "not a retirement".
33.
Matt Neal has competed at the Bathurst 1000 on four occasions; in 1997 and 1998 with Steven Richards in a Team Dynamics Nissan Primera, in 2000 in a Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore VT with Paul Morris.
34.
Matt Neal drove with Morris at the 2001 Queensland 500.
35.
Matt Neal first raced in the Historic People Carrier race in Series 5.
36.
Matt Neal raced a Mitsubishi L300 motorhome in the tenth series during a motorhome race.
37.
Matt Neal appeared in Series 12's Bus Race, driving an Optare MetroRider.
38.
Matt Neal then appeared in Series 14's airport vehicles race.
39.
Elsewhere Matt Neal has worked alongside Martin Haven as a co-commentator on Eurosport's coverage of the former World Touring Car Championship since 2010 and currently the World Touring Car Cup.
40.
Matt Neal has stated that he keeps fit through training in martial arts, which gives him better aerobic fitness and flexibility.
41.
In 2012 Matt Neal achieved the grade of 2nd dan black belt in the British Free Fighting Academy, after training with martial arts instructor Andy Hopwood.