Hopes high for sunshine at Thruxton

Paul O’Neill believes his Sunshine.co.uk Tech-Speed Motorsport Honda Integra is in better shape than ever as the new season dawns. Despite being rather long in the tooth compared to rivals, the Integra has enjoyed a complete rebuild and development over the winter in the hands of Marvin Humphries’ team.

While a new look livery reflects changes on the surface, developments have also been made beneath the skin to keep the car competitive.

“It was all about looking at some developments Tech-Speed have made to the cars over the winter and they worked really well,” said O’Neill on his Media Day running at Brands Hatch.

Eighth fastest in the morning, O’Neill remained inside the top ten with ninth quickest time in the second session after lunch.

“The car was really good but personally, I feel I could have done better. The time we set was good considering it was on older tyres and I didn’t really get the most out of the newer rubber we put on the car, but setting times wasn’t important.

“The car has had a full rebuild over the winter and it’s in much better shape than it was at the end of 2009. It’s in top shape and should do the business this season.”

With the car performing well through the finish line speed trap (fifth quickest in both sessions), hopes are high that a good result could be on the cards at Thruxton, a circuit well-suited to the Honda Integra.

“We tried a few things out on the car that we have been working on over the winter and we have made some steps forward,” said Humphries. “It’s difficult to judge the opposition until we get to Thruxton but we are realistic with our aims and are hopeful that we can build on last year and have another strong season.”

“Testing went well,” continued Team Boss Humphries, “We had a productive day and everything went to plan – and it was good to see what our rivals are doing.

“Paul had a good day in the car and wasn’t far from the pace, but John (George) was feeling under the weather and didn’t do as much running as he planned to. Overall though, he has fitted in the team well and he and Paul are working well together. We really want to help John try and move up the grid this season.”

Whilst familiar with the Integra, having campaigned one for the past three seasons with TH Motorsport, George is new to the Tech-Speed team. The Cornishman though is hoping to enjoy his best BTCC season yet.

“Having a team-mate who is prepared to give me a hand will be a huge help this season – I haven’t had that before,” said George.

“I think I will learn a lot from Paul during the year and in the morning session I went quicker than I ever have before, and on old rubber, so I think that says that I can do a lot better than I have in the past. I’d really like to score at least one top ten finish from each round and I feel that would be a massive improvement for me. There are no mugs out there and it will always be difficult, but I feel we can achieve that aim this season.”

George begins his top ten quest in nine days time when the BTCC kicks off on Easter Saturday at Thruxton.