Dave Newsham delighted with Jack Sears Trophy

AmD Tuning and Dave Newsham were able to come away the final rounds of the BTCC season with a title to their name after securing the Jack Sears Trophy on finals day at Brands Hatch.

The West Thurrock-based team headed into its home event as one of those still firmly in contention for the trophy, being handed out this season to the Independent driver to make up the most positions during the 30 races.

Newsham’s drive to 12th in the final race was enough to secure the trophy by six positions, and both he and boss Shaun Hollamby have said they hope to be able to strike a deal for 2015.

“It’s great for us to end the season with a trophy,” Newsham said. “This weekend has been a challenge but the team gave me a great car. On Saturday, it was the best it has been all season but unfortunately the incident in race one meant we couldn’t show it. For race two, it wasn’t perfect and I did what I could, which meant we were in the best position in the Jack Sears Trophy going into race three.

“The team was keeping me up to speed on what we needed to do, so I made sure that I kept the car on track and didn’t do anything silly to secure the trophy.

“The fact we have won a trophy that is awarded for making up places shows that we have had a strong race car all season. Our real strength has been the speed we’ve shown on race days, and if I’m back with the team in 2015, what we need to do next year is to qualify higher up the order to really mix it towards the front on a more regular basis.

“Overall, it’s been a learning year for both the team and myself but I think we can be happy. We’ve tried a lot of things with the car and have done a lot of testing in the public eye, which isn’t ideal, but to come away from the season having shown our speed, with a podium finish at Knockhill, and with a trophy to our name is great.”

Team boss Shaun Hollamby added: “To end the season with the Jack Sears Trophy is just reward for the work the boys have put in all year.

“They’ve done a fantastic job to give Dave a car that has been reliable all year, and we’ve also got to thank the guys at Motorbase for providing us with a good package in the first place. The fact we have been able to take a podium finish this year and have been able to put in some strong performances in such a tough series is also a great example of why the current regulations work so well.

“Dave has been great to work with this season and it would be good for us to continue together in 2015 but we’ll have to sit down and talk over the winter and see what happens for next year.”