PERSHORE team Halfords Yuasa Racing took the wraps off their 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship challenger during Birmingham’s Autosport International Show.

Defending champion Gordon Shedden and fellow triple title-winner Matt Neal unveiled their Honda Civic Type R.

Last year Shedden battled his way to back-to-back crowns with team-mate Neal only ruled out of title contention on the final day of the season.

The two men will head into their eighth consecutive campaign together in 2017 chasing sustained success.

Shedden will bid to become the first driver since Andy Rouse more than 30 years ago to triumph three times in swift succession, while Neal enters a record-extending 27th BTCC season remaining every inch a force to be reckoned with.

Shedden said: “I always feel like we’re a little in the lap of the gods at this stage of the year, waiting to see what weird and wonderful things the engineers have come up with over the winter.

“The Civic Type R was already an excellent all-round package last year so we’ve adopted an approach of evolution rather than revolution because there’s no point in trying to reinvent the wheel although there are definitely some developments in the pipeline.

“There have been a few subtle rule changes over the off-season and it will be interesting to see how the new Dunlop tyre performs — Matt did the majority of the running on it from our side last summer — because everybody will need to get their head around it as quickly as possible.

“As far as I’m concerned, going into a new season as the defending champion is the best position to be in and I’m hopeful we will be there or thereabouts from the outset, even if we fully expect the competition to be tougher than ever this year.

“It never ceases to amaze me how people constantly raise their game in this championship which is reflected in the quality entry list the BTCC invariably attracts and that’s what makes it so unpredictable and exciting.

“With the variables of success ballast and reversed grids you’re not going to win every race so it’s all about playing the long game.

“It would be fantastic to mirror Andy’s achievements — he is a true legend of touring car racing — but there’s a long way to go yet and ultimately we need to just focus on ourselves. I can’t wait to get started.”