Matt Neal admits “still early days” for new Civic

Matt Neal admitted there was plenty of reason to be optimistic despite a troubled start to his BTCC campaign at Brands Hatch.

The three-time champion had qualified in sixth place for his first weekend at the wheel of Team Dynamics’ new FK8 version of the Civic Type-R but saw luck desert him come race day.

Getting caught up in an incident in race one, Neal failed to make it to the end of the opening lap and then struggled on dry tyres in the mixed conditions of race two as he again failed to score.

From the back of the grid for the final race however, Neal showed the potential of the Civic with an impressive run through the field to twelfth to put some points on the board.

Eighth and eleventh for team-mate Dan Cammish helped him to win the Jack Sears Trophy for the opening meeting.

“My weekend obviously unravelled in race one,” Neal admitted. “I tried to do something a little off-piste in race two but it was a struggle, which was compounded by getting knocked around a bit for good measure.

“We at least made up 17 places in race three, which demonstrated the potential of the new Civic Type R, and there are a lot of reasons for optimism moving forward.

“The car seems to be quick in the dry, the engine is working well and Dan is clearly very fast – for us to both be inside the top six in qualifying with a car that has far from achieved its full potential yet is very encouraging.

“We still have some work to do in wet trim, but it’s a new car so that’s only to be expected and one of the biggest positives about the FK8 is its aerodynamics and lack of drag; when we get to the longer circuits where it can stretch its legs a bit, that should really pay dividends.

“It’s extremely early days and there’s plenty more to come. Better yet, we are going to be light at Donington, so hopefully we can fight back on home turf.”