Tom Chilton says he is confident that a new aerodynamic package on Team Halfords' Honda Civic will help improve the competitiveness of the car during the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season.
Despite no pre-season testing, the Civic finished third and fourth in the standings last season thanks to Gordon Shedden and
Matt Neal, with the team having now embarked on an extensive testing campaign to give the returning Shedden and new boy Chilton as much running as possible heading into the 50th anniversary BTCC season.
With five days in Spain alongside Vauxhall already under its belt, the team took to the track at
Silverstone last week before heading to
Snetterton yesterday [Tuesday] to continue preparations for the opening rounds of the year at
Brands Hatch later this month, with much of the work focusing on the 2008 aero package now fitted to the car.
Although a busy circuit at Silverstone somewhat affected the team's programme, Chilton said the new aerodynamics on the car had already given the team an improvement in tyre wear – something he admitted would be important for the season ahead.
"To be honest with you, we didn't learn a great deal at Silverstone because it was quite cold and there was also a lot of traffic with it being a general test day," he told
Crash.net. "It made it quite difficult for us to get a clear lap in as there were some cars going round a lot slower than us. When we are all out together in the BTCC, we know to get out of the way of someone on a hot lap, but on general tests you get some drivers with less experience who can get in the way without meaning to.
