The Honda Racing, British Touring Car Championship team is about to get serious. The fifth and sixth rounds of the Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship take place at Thruxton on Bank Holiday Monday with the Honda Racing trio aiming to improve on the excellent start the team has made to the 2003 season.

Podium positions for Alan Morrison and Tom Chilton in the first and second rounds at Mondello Park, followed by Matt Neal’s win in round three at Brands Hatch, have given Honda Racing all the encouragement it needs for this year’s title chase.

Morrison and Neal are already placed fourth and fifth respectively in the drivers’ championship points table and have targeted the leading trio of Yvan Muller, James Thompson and Paul O’Neill as the main threats to their push for the title.

Thirty-six-year-old Matt Neal is sure that the Honda Racing Civic Type R is on the pace after the first two rounds. “We proved that we have the speed to compete for race wins already this season,” said the experienced Worcestershire driver. “The team has done a superb job over the winter in developing the car and we know it has terrific potential. It’s now up to us to exploit this to the full and deliver the results.

“The car felt really good at Brands Hatch, but I was a little bit disappointed at the outcome of the second race after doing so well in the first,” continued Neal. “We had a great opportunity to do better and we should have made more of it over the weekend. Alan, Tom and I have a ballast advantage at Thruxton but this is less critical on such a fast track. So we’ll have to be on the money to pick up from where we left off at Brands.”

Alan Morrison (32) agrees with his team-mate’s assessment and knows that they will have to use all their experience to claw back some of the advantage that they lost during the first four rounds. “I drove really hard at Brands Hatch and yet I just wasn’t able to put the car on the podium again,” said the determined Ulsterman.

“The pace car and the pit stops played their part, and this is one area that the whole team will be focussed on at Thruxton. We’ve got some ground to make up and I’m confident that we’ll be able to do just that over the Bank Holiday weekend.”

Tom Chilton (18) was the unluckiest of all the Honda Racing drivers at Brands Hatch. He crashed out of qualifying and was unable to compete in the races due to the damage inflicted on his Honda Racing Civic Type R. “Brands was a really frustrating experience for me,” admitted the Surrey driver who had been looking forward to competing on his home circuit.

“I felt sorry for the team more than anything because they had worked so hard to prepare the car for the event. However, it was just one of those things that happens in racing and now I’ve got to bounce back. I’ll be looking for two strong points finishes to get my season back on track.”