Neal expects tough weekend

The reigning BTCC champion went to the season opener hoping to just score a few points, but he finished the weekend second in the championship.

However, Neal still thinks that it is too early to expect his new Honda Civic to be on the pace.

"We qualified ninth fastest at Brands and in reality that's probably where we are compared to the others," he said.

"I got a bit lucky with some others having a bit of misfortune in the opening two races which helped give me a chance of the win in the third race."

Neal added that despite the work his team have continued to put in since the first round of the season, they will still have a tough time because they missed the pre-season test at Rockingham.

"The car wasn't ready to run (at the test) and that's going to stick us on the back foot," he said. "We'll be going there not even knowing the gear ratios."