Matt Neal says an NGTC car now essential for BTCC wins

The next-generation cars were introduced for 2012, but the older S2000 cars were still able to win races.

But Neal does not expect S2000 cars to win this year, as the performance of NGTC cars such as his Honda Civic improve.

"The next generation regulations have been out for 12 months," Neal said on the AUTOSPORT stage with KX at AUTOSPORT International.

"We were the first of the big teams to move to them, and the cars were challenging to start with.

"There were a lot of little problems to iron out, and once that was done the car became a dream to drive.

"This year, you've got to be in an NGTC to win. We will have an advantage over the S2000 cars.

"They will still be on the grid, but they are going to start to struggle a bit more."

The three-time champion added that the drivers understood why series bosses worked so hard to equalise the performance of the cars last year, even if it led to complaints throughout the season.

"The organisers have had the challenge of making the NGTC cars equal with the S2000s," he said.

"We didn't always like how they did it but we understood why they were doing it. They did a pretty good job.

"We all moan about boost levels, everyone who watches the BTCC knows that.

"But they are upping the boost levels for all the NGTC cars this year so we'll all have a bit more to play with."