"The next Civic is a four-wheel drive car so we can do it. OK, it doesn’t have a boxer engine, but we can do what they’ve done and we would just have to go rear-wheel drive with them, that’s what (TOCA) have pushed the formula into,” explained Neal. “That car is Frankenstein,” he added referring back to Team BMR’s Subaru. “I have nothing against the team, fair play to them, but it’s just like the Audi with four-wheel drive, it’s like the Alfa with the wings and the diffs, where do you go? It’s the thin end of the wedge.”
The team could make the switch to the new Civic as soon as next year when the hatchback version of the Civic FC goes on sale in 2017. The saloon version from the China Touring Car Championship is pictured above.
“On current form, we’d have to change,” said Neal. “It’s been spoken about doing it next year, but that’s up to Honda. The new car comes out in January, but it’s whether we switch to the new Civic in 2017, or whether they want us to continue to promote the Type R which carries on until 2018.”
