Fresh from its encouraging return to the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on Easter Monday, Honda Racing arrives in the North West for rounds three and four of the UK's premier race series at Oulton Park on Sunday, 21 April.

On their eagerly anticipated debut the two competition-prepared Honda Civic Type-Rs showed plenty of pace and potential. Although Andy Priaulx (Guernsey) claimed an impressive fifth place in the longer Feature Race and set one of the fastest laps, any hopes he had of challenging the front-runners were sidelined by a power steering problem that prevented both him and team-mate Alan Morrison (Ulster) from posting better results.

Since the curtain raiser in Kent, Honda Racing has completely re-engineered the steering systems on both Type-Rs and the team is confident that the cars will be fully competitive for the BTCC's only visit to the picturesque parkland circuit.

"We have changed from an electric to a hydraulic system which we have been testing rigorously both on a rig and on a road car," explains Honda Racing Team Principal Mike Earle. "Although we were caught out by the power steering problem, the new cars otherwise ran faultlessly at Brands Hatch. What's more they showed plenty of speed, so there were lots of positive signs for the forthcoming races."

Although yet to test the Civic Type-R at Oulton Park, Priaulx has enjoyed some great results on the challenging Cheshire circuit not least when taking pole position on his BTCC debut last autumn when making a one-off guest appearance for the Vauxhall team.

"The circuit has real character and I have some good memories, " says the 27-year-old who has just returned from a trip to Australia where he has been preparing to contest the Bathurst 1000 Classic scheduled for later in the season. "We have already proved the Civic to be quick and I'll be disappointed not to finish on the podium this weekend. Obviously we'll have limited time to fine-tune the chassis but we found a good balance at Brands and that should give us a good starting point for Oulton Park."

Morrison, too, is looking forward to racing at Oulton Park. Having failed to finish at Brands Hatch, his Honda Civic Type-R will be competing without any success ballast and Morrison, 31, is keen to maximise his advantage. "The lack of weight in the car should improve its braking and also provide better acceleration up the hills. Oulton Park is one of my favourite circuits and it should suit the Civic well," he says.