Plato expects Neal to struggle

The SEAT driver told this week's Autosport magazine that he expects Team Dynamics to fall down the order now that they can no longer use the dominant Honda Integra that took Neal to the title in 2005 and 2006.

The BTCC is switching to the Super 2000 rules used in the World Touring Car Championship for this season, and Dynamics are currently building Honda Civics for their title defence.

"I predict they'll be awful," said Plato, who is one of the favourites for the title as SEAT have raced their Super 2000 Leon for a season already.

"It will be interesting to see how they perform when they will not have a car performance advantage.

"I think they have been flattered enormously because they've had a little GT car - masses of downforce and masses of power."

Neal believes that Plato should be worrying about what is going on in his own team though, and the double champion is expecting Darren Turner to surprise a few people in the second SEAT.

"Darren is my tip for one to watch out for," said Neal. "It will be interesting to see how Plato performs without team orders stopping his team mate from beating him this year."

Turner made five starts for SEAT in the BTCC last year, having previously never raced a front-wheel drive car.