Neal wins at Mondello

England's Matt Neal boosted his chances of securing his first-ever Green Flag British Touring Car Championship title with victory in Ireland today.

The Egg Sport Vauxhall driver took victory in the sprint race at Mondello Park today - his second win of the season - as title rival Yvan Muller suffered heartbreak.

Muller had lead from pole position at the start and looked set for a comfortable win only for the engine in his works Vauxhall to cut midway through the first race of the day.

That left Neal in prime position to win from James Thompson’s Vauxhall with David Leslie scoring a fine third for Proton.

Gareth Howell’s Team Atomic Kitten MG had seemed set for a deserved third place only to retire after a clash with Egg Sport Vauxhall’s Paul O’Neill on the penultimate lap.

That incident poured more misery on the privateer MG squad after Colin Turkington was taken ill last night and forced to withdraw.

The race had been interrupted twice by safety car periods, firstly because of Paul Fullalove’s accident and then when Norman Simon’s BMW stopped in a dangerous position.

Neal leads the championship by four points going into this afternoon’s feature race from Thompson after the Yorkshireman was docked five points for an engine change.