BRITISH Touring Car Championship leader Matt Neal goes into the next round of racing as officially one of the best drivers of all-time.

Droitwich-based Neal's four wins from nine starts this season has taken his career tally to 18 victories and puts him among the top 10 drivers in the competition's history.

The 38-year-old won two of the three races at Brands Hatch two weeks ago and heads to the fourth round at Oulton Park in Cheshire tomorrow looking to continue that success.

Together with Team Halfords colleague Dan Eaves, the pair have won seven of the campaign's nine races in their Honda Integras and are the front runners in the championship and independents trophy.

Successful results have also propelled Team Halfords to the top of the teams' and independents' championships.

Eaves, however, has vowed to put Vauxhall's Yvan Muller in his place at Oulton Park.

The Evesham man is still miffed he crashed out trying to pass the Frenchman in the first race at Brands Hatch 10 days ago. In a later race, a throttle problem affected Eaves' performance and he was powerless to prevent Muller taking victory.

His crash cost him the championship lead to Neal, while Muller closed to third behind Eaves in the standings.

But Eaves said: "I know that I'm going to out-qualify Muller and beat Muller at Oulton.

"His tactics at Brands caused me to make a stupid mistake I'll not make again. I've been kicking myself ever since. But it's not just Muller I've got to beat. The field is full of tough nuts and I need to crack them all.

"Oulton is my kind of track and I took my first win in the BTCC there last year. My dad John's also going to be there and I want to win for him on Father's Day."

Eaves also believes the speed of his Honda Integra has put pressure on Muller and SEAT's Jason Plato in the title race.

"Even if Vauxhall and SEAT get up to our speed, I'm confident by the time they do it will be too late to catch Matt and I," added Eaves.

"Matt and I both want to win and as a result bring out the best in each other. I was eight points ahead of Matt before Brands and now he's seven in front, so I could easily end up turning it around again at Oulton."