Paul O’Neill will be looking to improve on his podium position which he achieved last season as he heads out to Thruxton for the first round of the season. Paul was quick to point out that being at the front of the field and earning solid points will be his aim for this weekend.

“We’ve got to be confident heading to Thruxton after the way it went last year – we just need to hope we don’t have a repeat of the tyre issue we suffered in race three!” he said. “I’m sure we’ll be qualifying inside the top ten and hopefully we can knock on the door of the top six. Three top six finishes on race day has to be the aim with at least one of those being a podium finish. It won’t be easy but we can certainly do it.”

John George will, for the first time, have a team-mate to help him throughout the season after spending three seasons at TH Motorsport and coming back from a horrific accident at Brands Hatch in 2008.

“I’m really looking forward to the weekend. At Brands Hatch last week I was able to match my previous qualifying times despite running on old tyres during the morning, and that was without doing many laps during the afternoon as I was feeling under the weather,” he said.

“That was really good news for me and I’m feeling confident that I can have my best weekend at Thruxton so far. The car suits the circuit and working with Paul has been great so far, he’s been really helpful. I’m keen to see what I can do.”

Managing Director, Chris Brown, is said to be looking forward to the challenge that Thruxton will bring. “We’re looking forward to seeing what we can do this weekend after Paul’s performance last season,” he said. “Tech-Speed has worked hard on the car over the winter and Neil Brown has been working on the engines, so we are looking forward to seeing the impact that those changes have.

“It’s nice to start the season with our home race and at a circuit where the car will be strong. We know it will be quick round Thruxton and we can show what we are capable of. We are starting the year at a circuit that really suits the Honda and it would be brilliant if we can pick up some top five finishes. If we can get on the podium, it would be even better!”

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.