TEAM DYNAMICS HONDA

Car: Drivers: Matt Neal (3rd), Gordon Shedden (9th), Andy Neate (N/A)

That Matt Neal sits third in the points and has two wins to his name in the 2016 competition is impressive. The championship veteran certainly has the habit of prevailing in the reversed-grid encounter, and he has done that twice this season.

That is not because he can only win that way. He has been in the top two of the championship going into every meeting so far, which means he has carried at least 66kg of success ballast. That means the Honda team has reversed engineered its race weekends, building to the crescendo of race three.

There is a new engine in the Civic this season and that caused some concern in early testing, but excellent work by the Pershore squad rectified this in time for Brands Hatch. However, Honda’s pace has dropped off as the series has visited rearwheel-drive-friendly circuits recently and it will be crucial that the Japanese cars get back in the hunt at Snetterton this weekend.

One of the hard luck stories has been Gordon Shedden, who has twice lost points through tyre failures and he is in ninth in the points. Landing a third title looks unlikely at this stage.

Andy Neate’s brief sojourn with the team only lasted until after the opening Brands Hatch meeting, when funding was not forthcoming.