Former champion Matt Neal and team-mate Gordon Shedden have both been refining their 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship Honda Civic with test mileage ahead of the new season and are pleased with progress.
The Honda Racing Team duo have developed the revamped car at Snetterton in Norfolk, Donington Park and Silverstone over the last five days as they prepare to defend the team’s manufacturers’ crown.
The car is fitted with a new two-litre turbocharged engine ahead of a rule change this season and Neal stunned rivals by setting the fastest time at Snetterton on Tuesday (March 15).
“The car has lots of potential,” explained 44-year-old Neal. “The new turbo engine gives us lots of torque but it changes the characteristics of the car quite significantly in terms of the power delivery. I will have to adapt to that and the more testing laps we can do, the better it will be. I was happy with how we managed to run at Snetterton particularly.
“We have also been through a range of set-ups on the chassis and so far, it has reacted exactly as we expected it to,” added Neal. “It is encouraging but we still need to do more running to fully understand the car.”
Shedden said that he was optimistic about the season ahead after his initial outings in the reworked car. He sampled the hatchback at Snetterton and again at Silverstone on Friday. “It certainly requires a different driving technique to the car we had last season,” said the Scot.
“There are lots of new variables with the different weight distribution and the turbo but we have already seen that the Civic has got massive potential.
“It is important we do as much testing as we can before the start of the season to get the most out of it, but I am happy that we have the basic ingredients in place already.”
The 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship kicks off at Brands Hatch in Kent on April 2/3. The Honda Racing Team’s test programme continues with the first official group test of the season at Silverstone in Northamptonshire on Thursday this week (March 24).
