Honda pushing for improvements to escape improving BTCC rivals

Honda swept all available BTCC titles with its new NGTC Civic last season, with Gordon Shedden and team-mate Neal finishing one-two in the drivers' standings.

Despite the strong campaign, in which the Civic took 14 wins, Neal believes improvements will be needed for this year.

"We've been working hard in all areas of the car during the break," Neal told AUTOSPORT. "We've not stood still over the winter.

"I expect the level of opposition to be a bit higher and for that reason we have to push to make sure we're still tough to beat."

Neal believes the 2012 performance of the Civic will help others push forward with their own cars.

"We were the first to understand the NGTC regulations and get on top of everything," he added. "Everyone has seen our car now and will have had the winter to improve."

Neal confirmed some of the improvements concerned "optimising the engine for the regulations".

The Civic spent most of 2012 on its low baseline turbo boost level.

2013 British Touring Car line-up so far:

Team                   Car                     Drivers
Honda (Team Dynamics)  Honda Civic             Gordon Shedden/Matt Neal
MG (Triple 8)          MG6                     Jason Plato/TBA
Motorbase Performance  Ford Focus              Mat Jackson/TBA
WSR                    BMW 1 Series            C Turkington/R Collard/N Foster
Team HARD              VW Passat               Tom Onslow-Cole
                       Vauxhall Insignia       Jack Goff/James Cole
Speedworks Motorsport  Toyota Avensis          Dave Newsham/TBA
Ciceley Racing         Toyota Avensis          Adam Morgan
IP Tech Race           Chevrolet Cruze         Andy Neate
AmD Tuning             VW Golf/Vauxhall Astra  TBA
Rob Austin Racing      Audi A4                 Rob Austin/Will Bratt
Eurotech Racing        Honda Civic             Andrew Jordan/TBA
Dynojet                Toyota Avensis          Frank Wrathall