Honda Racing welcomes more BTCC sponsors onboard

While drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden are busy refining their 2011 British Touring Car Championship Honda Civics with test mileage ahead of the season opener at Brands Hatch this weekend, Honda Racing is pleased to announce the appointment of several key sponsors together with a technical support arrangement concluded with Bosch Engineering GmbH Motorsport.

Joining the team for the first time is CTEK, the leading global brand in the care and maintenance of vehicle batteries, and Dread, Honda Racing’s new official clothing supplier and leading provider of corporate, promotional and team clothing.

Honda Racing Team is also working with Bosch Engineering GmbH Motorsport for the 2011 season. Bosch is a leading global automotive supplier of technology and services.

Marshall Motor Group, Honda UK’s largest dealer group, is no stranger to the Honda Racing Team and the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. After a successful 2010 with the team, Marshall Motor Group is back for a second season in a row.

Sarah Mayo, Partnerships Manager, Honda (UK) commented “It’s great to see some new faces onboard for the 2011 season and we’re also delighted to see Marshall Motor Group sign up for their second year with us.

“Combine these sponsors with Pioneer and Yuasa and the Honda Racing team has some exceptionally strong support behind it. We’ve already had very promising results in our pre-season testing with Matt Neal setting the fastest time at Snetterton last week - 2011 is promising to be a thrilling season. We can’t wait for it to begin.”

The 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship first group test session of the season took place at Silverstone last Thursday. Honda drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden joined the rest of the field for the four-hour session that took place at the championship’s media presentation day. Neal ended up in third place with the new two-litre turbocharged Civic and the former double champion is confident there is more pace to come from the hatchback.

“The car ran brilliantly all day and we showed some really good pace,” said Neal. “We’re still working on the set up of the car because the weight distribution is different with the new engine but we found some really promising directions at Silverstone. We’ve only just begun to tap into the potential of the car so I’m very optimistic.”

Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden also managed to get some laps in at the wheel of his brand new machine, and he posted the eighth fastest time on the car’s shakedown.