Tom Chilton was back behind the wheel for the first time this year for a six day test for Honda at Albacete in Spain

Arena Motorsport ran the development 2004 Honda Civic R for the first time and Tom conducted all the driving over the six days. Also testing during the week were the works Vauxhall team with James Thompson, Yvan Muller and new recruit, Luke Hines conducting the driving. Matt Neal was also out for Team Dynamics with last year's Honda Civic. Weather conditions were kind to the teams with glorious sunshine for the last three days after a cold but dry start to the testing. The great conditions, combined with a trouble free Honda, allowed Tom to complete over 850 miles of testing for the team. He reported afterwards how successful it had been;

" It was a fantastic first test, we achieved so much over the six days. The important thing was the reliability - the only problem was a faulty alternator on the first day. After that, we did not have one single problem. The pace was good too. Obviously we don't know what the other teams are doing with regard to ballast and the state of the tyres they were running at any one time, but the times I achieved are certainly in the right area for what we were doing. I know it's early days yet, but it has made me very confident for good results this season. " 

The team came away from Spain extremely happy with the progress that had been made and Tom is looking forward to the next outing, which will probably be at Thruxton on the 20th February.

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