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British Touring Car Championship frontrunners Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden believe Marc Hynes will be a threat for wins this season.

Hynes, who beat Jenson Button to the 1999 British Formula 3 title, is returning to racing for the first time in over five years in a third Triple Eight-run MG6.



Despite Hynes' lack of experience of wheel-to-wheel touring car racing, former BTCC champions Neal and Shedden both expect him to be competitive.

"I think Mark will be a challenger," Neal told AUTOSPORT. "We went to Bathurst in 2008 and he seemed to get the measure of the V8 Supercars quicker than [former BTCC champion] Fabrizio Giovanardi.

"He may have to roll with the punches, but I think he'll give as give as good as he gets.

"Marc's a class act - look at what he did early in his career. It's just bad luck and lack of money that stopped him."

Beating Button wasn't enough for F1

Shedden added: "He should slot in quite quickly. There's no doubting his pedigree.

"There's a funny knack to going well in a touring car, but I absolutely think he'll win races.

"His quality will come through."

DID YOU KNOW...?

In the year that Hynes beat Button to the British F3 crown, Neal famously defeated the factory BTCC teams in his independent Dynamics Nissan to win at Donington Park (pictured).

Meanwhile Shedden was making his car racing debut on the TOCA support package in the Ford Fiesta series.