Halfords Yuasa Racing heads into the opening rounds of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in optimistic mood following a promising official test of its Honda Civic Type R race cars.

After a first season racing the latest FK8 version of the Honda Civic Type R in 2018, the car was upgraded over the winter before the team embarked on an extensive pre-season testing programme. This stretched across the U.K., before joining the official pre-season test day at Brands Hatch in Kent.

By the end of the full-day test, featuring the full 30 BTCC entries, Dan Cammish had set third-fastest time in his Civic Type R. Team mate Matt Neal was ninth-fastest, less than three tenths of a second behind despite only taking part in the generally slower morning session, and the Honda squad will hope to continue this promising form when the teams return to Brands Hatch for the opening three rounds of the 2019 BTCC in April.