Matt Neal: New Honda Type-R BTCC car worth the wait

The Team Dynamics operation successfully completed its maiden test with its new BTCC challenger at Brands Hatch on Tuesday, less than three weeks before the first round of the 2015 season.

Bad weather meant the Type-R, which had originally been slated for a media day unveiling next week at Donington Park, did not run until after lunchtime.

Neal completed the majority of the running in the afternoon, with team-mate Gordon Shedden performing back-to-back runs in the 2014 Civic Tourer before sampling the new car for the first time late on.

Triple champion Neal said the late start to testing was largely down to the availability of parts for the car, which is not available to the public until the summer, but expects the Type-R to provide an improvement on track and further opportunities off it.

"It's positive, it feels right," he told AUTOSPORT. "The base of the car is there and it looks mega. It's just a question of us sorting it out.

"A lot of what you look for [in the shakedown] is what is not right, and in that respect it looks good.

"We would have wanted to be earlier but the car doesn't exist yet. Honda at Swindon have been really bending over backwards to try and get bits for us.

"It's going to be such a marketing goldmine for Honda, the Type-R programme in general, and it's great for us to be a part of it.

"It was too good an opportunity to miss."

The car will continue to test at Brands on Wednesday and Honda expects to have both Civics running at Donington next week.

Team manager James Rodgers said the car performed without fault on its debut, adding: "We're quite pleased with the quality of the car out of the box.

"Barry [Plowman, technical director] and his team have done a fantastic job in that respect. Now it's about fine-tuning it."