Dave Newsham aiming for progress and podiums

Power Maxed Racing’s Dave Newsham says he hopes to trouble the front runners in the 2015 BTCC field before the end of the year after a promising first weekend with his new team at Brands Hatch.

The 2010 Clio Cup champion’s luck was out in the first two races, but a positive third race ended with a ninth place after a battle with West Surrey Racing’s Andy Priaulx.

Newsham says the Chevrolet Cruze saloon is a better car than the Ford Focus ST he piloted for AmD Tuning last season, and he believes a small increase in pace will help him fight at the sharp end.

Assessing the weekend, Newsham told TouringCarTimes: “The first race was spoiled by [Aiden] Moffat turning us around on the first lap and in race two we had a pipe come off the turbo on the last lap.

“That could have been a top 10 and a reverse grid pole, but we have to be happy with what we’ve achieved. We made a positive step with the car in race three.

“It feels better than the Ford. We’re just lacking a little bit of pace – not much! – but you don’t need much these days.

“We’ve learned a lot this weekend and if we can keep learning at this rate we will be troubling the guys at the front before the end of the year. If we can squeeze a bit more pace out of it before Donington then maybe we could even get a podium at some stage.”

Newsham has been open about his bid to gain enough funding to remain on the BTCC grid, as he starts racing with his sixth team since he arrived in the series in 2011.

He said he was hopeful he could buck the trend with Power Maxed Racing in the future.

“That’s the way we’re working at the moment, and if we keep moving the car forward there’s no reason why we can’t make this a multi-year deal,” he said.