WORCESTERSHIRE race ace Matt Neal broke his spell of bad luck to win the sprint race at yesterday's round of the Green Flag British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, Scotland.

The Hanbury ace finished fourth in the feature race in his Egg Sport Vauxhall Astra to maintain his third position in the series, 42 points behind leader James Thompson who finished third in both races.

In wet conditions, Neal drove superbly in the sprint race, climbing from fourth to first in quick succession, picking off Thompson at the hairpin before then passing Anthony Reid and Andy Priaulx.

Conditions got progressively worse in the feature race but Neal worked his way up the field to fourth, with Priaulx taking the race honours.

Neal said afterwards: "After four non-finishes, that felt good! I was quite surprised to be able to pick off the front-runners one-by-one at the hairpin.

"I'd been watching Priaulx breaking incredibly early through there lap after lap so went for it. And the Astra really was awesome -- I had great traction out of the corners."

Of the feature race, he added: "It was so much of a lottery though -- almost a question of how brave you could be breaking for the corners.

"The important thing now is that I won't be carrying too much weight for Brands Hatch."