Neal, BTCC champion in 2005 and 2006 with Dynamics, continued testing the Civic at Oulton Park in Cheshire yesterday (pictured above with additional exhaust silencer) following other recent runs at Rockingham and Thruxton.

The 43-year-old from Staffordshire told btcc.net: “It’s been a pretty good test and we really got the car hooked up. It feels very strong now. As I’ve also said before, it feels like a completely different thing compared to how it felt at end of last year.

“If there’s one area we maybe need to work on a bit more it’s the weight. If we can reduce that just a little bit more then it’s definitely going to be right up there. It should be right on the money.”

While Dynamics has yet to announce its 2010 driver line-up, Neal is widely tipped to return to the Pershore outfit for this year’s BTCC after two seasons with Vauxhall team VX Racing. It was with Dynamics, run by his own father and former BTCC Mini ace Steve, that he contested his first full season in the series, back in 1992. With Dynamics he has achieved six Independent Drivers’ titles, plus of course those two outright crowns in the mid-Noughties.

Neal, with more than 400 BTCC races to his name now, is also famous for winning £250,000 with Dynamics at Donington Park in 1999 – he scooped the money after becoming the first independently-entered driver of the period to win a race ahead of the might of the manufacturer teams.