MATT Neal and Dan Cammish battled to vital British Touring Car Championship points for Droitwich team Halfords Yuasa Racing at a challenging Rockingham meeting.

Both drivers showed strong pace in their Honda Civic Type Rs but were restricted by the forceful nature of racing in the midfield.

Buoyed by his victory in Snetterton's diamond double race, Neal's team had to change the engine on his car ahead of qualifying.

The triple champion qualified just a second away from pole position but was 29th on the grid.

Delayed by an incident at the start, Neal fought hard to finish 18th and showed top-six pace in both races two and three although plenty of contact meant he had to settle for 14th and 15th.

After qualifying third, series rookie Cammish was fifth in race one despite carrying damage after contact on the opening lap.

Rain ahead of the second contest created challenging conditions with Cammish caught out by a damp patch on the circuit as he ran wide while fighting for 10th and had to settle for 21st.

But he fought back well in race three for 10th despite being on the less favourable hard tyre.

The points allowed Honda to maintain second in the manufacturers’ championship while Halfords are just two points away from the lead of the teams' championship.

Neal sits fifth among the drivers 12 points off the top three with Jack Sears Trophy leader Cammish just one away from the top 10.

Neal said: “You can’t hide from the fact that it’s been a tough weekend for us and luck hasn’t been on our side.

"We were really on the back foot after qualifying because the margins have been so close that we found ourselves towards the rear of the field and it was always going to be tough from there.

"Some of the racing in the mid-pack is brutal and I found myself trying to look after the car as best I could but have still come away with quite a bit of damage.

"The lap times showed the Civic Type R was a quick car this weekend and to end it with a manufacturers win in race three is a positive.

"However, it’s onwards and upwards from here and we have to focus on the next round at Knockhill.”

Cammish said: “I think character building is a good way to sum the weekend up for me.

"It’s clear to see we had good pace in the car and on another day we could have had pole and then would have avoided the incident at the start of race one which was just unfortunate.

"The field bunched up and I made contact with Sam (Tordoff) which was completely unintentional and the last thing I wanted to do.

"We carried some damage after that but managed to bring home some points in fifth place but the mixed conditions in race two didn’t favour us and I found myself on a damp part of the circuit fighting for position and it cost me.

"I feel I got the best I could from the car in race three and P21 to P10 was a good way to end what has been a tough meeting where we haven’t been able to pick up the results that our pace deserved.”

Adam Morgan, Ashley Sutton and Chris Smiley shared the race wins.

Next on the calendar is Knockhill, Scotland, over the weekend of August 25 and 26.