The son of Team Dynamics team principle Steve Neal believes that the cars built and run by the family team will be race winners in this year's Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, particularly if the Pershore based team can reduce the cars weight.
43 Year old Matt Neal, who won both of his BTCC titles while driving for the family run team Dynamics, under their previous guise of Team Halfords, has been out testing the Civic type R and has faith that it can win races in this year's BTCC.
Neal, who made his debut with Team Dynamics back in 1992, and has achieved 6 Independents titles during his time with his Dad and the team, has competed in over 400 BTCC races. Neal also has the claim to fame of being the first independent driver to claim an overall BTCC race win, when he took the chequered flag first during the feature race at Donington Park in 1999.
Neal, who is tipped by many to return to the family run team for the forthcoming 2010 season, after the withdrawal of Vauxhall the team he's raced for in the last two seasons.
Neal has been out testing the teams Civic, and after the latest test at Oulton Park, had this to say about the car and the test: “It's been a pretty good test and we really got the car hooked up. It feels very strong now. As I've also said before, it feels like a completely different thing compared to how it felt at end of last year.
“If there's one area we maybe need to work on a bit more it's the weight. If we can reduce that just a little bit more then it's definitely going to be right up there. It should be right on the money.”
The official British Touring Car Championship entry list will be unveiled at the official Media Day on the 23rd March, at Brands Hatch in Kent. The opening three rounds of the season take place at Thruxton on the 3rd and 4th April.