AmD Tuning’s Dave Newsham is hoping for a change in fortune heading into this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship meeting, as the series heads north of the border to Knockhill in Scotland.
The two-time race winner endured a frustrating weekend at Snetterton as he scored a solitary point despite securing his best grid slot of the year, but comes into the weekend with optimism after a successful test at the Norfolk circuit, where he shared driving duties with youngster Jake Hill.
And there is greater incentive to perform well as the weekend also marks something of a ‘home’ meeting for the 47-year-old, despite living some 140 miles north of the circuit, in Inverness.
With the weekend’s action looming, the Ford Focus driver underlined the need for a good qualifying run, given the close confines of the circuit – the second shortest on the calendar.
“Knockhill is a weekend I always look forward to, and we have a lot of guests and sponsors who are coming along,” said Newsham. “Hopefully we can put on a good show and I think we should do okay. There’s a bit more to come from me and Knockhill is a circuit where the driver can make a real difference. If it rains, we’ll definitely be in a good position, as we already know the Focus is good in the wet.
“We had our best qualifying last time out and we have to qualify well this weekend because it’s going to be tough with 31 cars on such a small track. Getting a free lap will be tough, but we have to try and make sure we are on track at the right time and avoid getting caught up in any incidents.
“We found something in the test at Snetterton that will help us this weekend when it comes to front end grip, but we’ll just have to see how we get on and how the car performs when we hit the track,” he continued. “Back in 2012, things didn’t start well but then I benefited from the reverse grid to win race three, so anything can happen.”
Team Boss Shaun Hollamby was equally hopeful of securing solid results, but was cautious of making any wild predictions.
“Snetterton was a weekend to put behind us but we had a solid day of testing with Dave and Jake Hill that has put us in good shape for the long trip to Scotland,” said Hollamby. “As Dave’s home race, we’re hoping to have plenty of support and hopefully we can put on a good show for them.
“We’ve had too much drama at times this season, so what we really need this weekend is to have three trouble free races and to pick up a good haul of points. Some strong top ten finishes would be great and anything beyond that will be a bonus.”