PERSHORE team Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden are firmly focused on their British Touring Car Championship title ambitions.

The competition speeds towards a nail-biting conclusion with the penultimate outing at Silverstone this weekend.

The team enjoyed a fine meeting at Rockingham with a win and runner-up spot for Shedden and a points-scoring hat-trick for Neal.

Three-time winner Neal marks a milestone with his 600th BTCC start in race two. The Worcestershire ace sits just five points shy of the lead with holder Shedden in third 15 further back.

But Neal admitted: “I’d be fibbing if I said Silverstone was our most eagerly-anticipated track of the year.

“The Honda Civic Type R’s key qualities come to the fore in high-speed corners, where its grip and aerodynamics score, but, due to the national circuit layout, that won’t really factor into the equation this weekend.

“It’s also tough carrying success ballast this season. It’s all about playing the long game and Silverstone will be tricky with the weight because it will hurt us in a straight line.

“Saying that, we expected a difficult weekend at Rockingham and that obviously turned out alright.

“The title battle is wide open and a small advantage can be eroded over a single race, never mind a weekend, so we need to keep our heads down as consistency and staying out of trouble will be paramount.”