AmD Tuning’s Dave Newsham says that he can pleased with his double points finish in the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park, despite a number of incidents in the three races.
Newsham scored twice on Sunday, taking a 12th and ninth-placed finish in the day’s opening two races respectively, before a spin in the final race of the day hampered his chances.
The Scot qualified as the third-best of the four Ford Focus drivers in 19th on Saturday, following it up with points in the opening race despite a spin on the second lap dropping him down to 24th. Newsham built on his strong run in the first race to improve to ninth in race two, which was again held in wet conditions.
“Overall it’s been a good day, although it’s been a bit messy on track,” admitted Newsham. “The pace in races one and two was really strong, although I did give myself an almighty scare going down the Craners in the first one! That was a big slide off but luckily I was able to come back from it and then in race two, we were strong once the tyres came to us as it took a little bit of time.”
In race three Newsham was contacted by Irishman Árón Smith early on in the race, damaging the tracking on his car. Newsham cited this as part of the cause for his spin and struggle to stage a compelling fightback, with him eventually finishing down in 17th.
“Contact at the start in race three damaged the handling and I lost the back end on the restart,” explained Newsham. “From that point on, it was a real handful, so I was surprised to see how strong our pace was at the finish. It’s a real shame as without that spin, there is no doubt we’d have been on for our best result of the year.”
After two rounds and six races, Newsham lies 16th in the driver’s championship with 18 points – four positions lower than at the same stage last season. Nevertheless the Scot remains positive, especially considering his strong race pace.
“As at Brands Hatch, there are plenty of positives for us to take away from the weekend,” added the 46-year-old. “The team has worked really well again and we’ve shown that we have really strong pace in the wet conditions.
“What we really need to work on is getting more from the car in qualifying, as the strength of the field this season means that you can’t qualify down the order and then expect to come through in the races. If we can nail qualifying, then our race pace has shown we can match anyone this weekend.”