The Honda Racing Team have announced that they will retain both Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden for the 2011 season. Both drivers helped the Japanese make to the Manufacturer and Teams titles this year, whilst Neal and Shedden finished 2nd and 3rd in the championship.
Whilst the regulations for 2011 bring in the new NGTC cars for the first time, Team Dynamics, who run the cars for Honda, have admitted that they are going to continue with the current S2000-spec Civic for next year. The team will, however, develop a new NGTC-spec engine with tuning partner Neil Brown Engineering over the winter meaning they will run with a combination of S2000 chassis and NGTC engine.
With the improvements to be made over the winter, the team are hopeful of adding to their 2010 championship titles next year.
The Managing Director of Honda (UK), David Hodgetts, said: “We are thrilled to announce Matt and Gordon as our drivers once again for next year. They have shown they are a winning combination on the track and they are excellent ambassadors for the Honda brand off the track too.”
Neal, who won five races this year, is keen to build on the success of the Civic. “I’m looking forward to a thrilling 2011,” he said. “The Civic is a real driver’s car which gives you amazing performance and road holding both on and off the track. I can’t wait to get the season started again.”
The 2011 season will be Shedden’s fifth year behind the Civic and he admitted that it was reassuring to be able to race a car that he knows so well. He added: “It was great to be back home in the Honda Civic in 2010 which delivered fantastic results. The aim is to come back even stronger and go for a clean sweep of titles in 2011. Bring it on!”