Honda’s softs-early strategy pays off as they chase engine improvements
The Honda team leave Donington Park first and second in the drivers’ championship with Matt Neal leading Gordon Shedden, making the most of an alternative strategy, running the soft Dunlop tyre in race one and aiming for the bulk of their points from race three.
Matt Neal was able to work his way past the two West Surrey Racing BMWs of Jack Goff and Sam Tordoff to score his first win of the season, and reclaim the points lead he’d lost to Motorbase Ford driver Mat Jackson after race two.
“That win is as sweet as the first one here all those years ago, you never get used to that feeling, and chuffed to bits with another 1-2 for Honda,” said Neal to TouringCarTimes.
Despite the 1-2, Honda aren’t resting on their laurels, with Team Dynamics struggling to get the maximum pace out of the new Type-R engine against the competition.
“There’s a lot of work in progress on the car, it’s debateable as to whether we can resolve some of it, but we’re working very hard behind the scenes,” added Neal.
Team-mate and reigning champion Gordon Shedden echoed Neal’s comments, stating the team were making the most of strategy while they work on getting more pace from the Honda Civic Type-R.
“You’ve just got to get the points when you can, and when you go into the weekend with a lot of weight on that soft tyre, you’re going to suffer, so we just got it out of the way early, and got through OK in race two and just had the run through in race three,” said Shedden to TouringCarTimes.
“(In race three) the BMWs went off like a scolded cat, but then (Jack) Goff started to fall back to us, but Sam (Tordoff) seemed to keep going and I was thinking he was going to make it to the end, but three laps from home his tyres were history as well.”
The new Type-R engine was taking part in only its second race, and even though its already delivered wins for Shedden and Neal at Brands Hatch and Donington Park, the team are chasing more performance in the coming races.
“You’d always like a bit more grunt. In race two we had no weight, and there were cars 40-50kg heavier than us pulling away in the straight line, so there’s work to do, we’re working on it.”
Neal leads the championship on 78 points, five clear of Shedden with Jack Goff the closest to the Honda pair in his West Surrey Racing BMW, while Honda lead the manufacturers’ championship on 180, with West Surrey Racing / BMW on 166.
