Matt Neal regained the British Touring Car Championship points lead at Donington Park as Honda triumphed in a battle of tyre strategy.
The Halfords Yuasa Racing Civic Type Rs of Neal and his team-mate Gordon Shedden were the only leading cars not on soft-compound tyres as the field lined up for the last of the three races at the circuit, 17 of the 30-car field having decided that the cooler conditions would better suit the tyres that are mandatory for at least one race per meeting.
As the lights went green the West Surrey Racing BMW 1 Series of Sam Tordoff, promoted to pole position from eighth by the reverse-grid draw following race two, made the best start.
Within a lap Tordoff was joined by his team-mate Jack Goff, passing Neal’s Honda which had started third, and in the first half of the race the two BMWs pulled away. But as the soft tyres wore out Neal was able to close back in, as was his team-mate Gordon Shedden, coming from fifth on the grid. By the 12th of 16 laps Goff had been dispatched by both Hondas, and they closed on the leader, Neal taking top spot on lap 14 and Shedden following him through a lap later. Shedden was then able to cut the gap to his team-mate, but Neal held on to lead home a one-two finish for Honda and become the sixth different winner in the first six races of the 2016 season.
The third WSR BMW of Rob Collard finished fourth while novice BTCC driver Ashley Sutton added to his experiences with a strong fifth place in the Triple Eig...