Brands Hatch will host the first rounds of the new-look Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship this weekend (1 April), and the 2007 season starter is promising to be one of the most closely fought BTCC meetings for years, with plenty of door banging and paint-swapping as the drivers wrestle for the first vital points of the year.
New technical regulations for 2007 have brought the championship into line with World Touring Car regulations and as such the drivers and teams face a raft of new challenges, not least defending champion Matt Neal who only test drove his new Civic Type R for the first time at Brands last week. Despite his lack of practice though, the Team Halfords driver, who made history in 2006 by winning back-to-back titles, is still confident that a third BTCC crown is within his reach and has claimed that his Honda is “full of Eastern promise”!
However, Neal will have to work very hard if he is to stay ahead of his arch rival and ex-champion Jason Plato in the latest SEAT Cupra as well as multiple European Touring Car Champion Fabrizio Giovanardi who has already topped the times in official practice sessions.
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