Photo: PSP Images

Dave Newsham hopeful of 2017 BTCC return

Dave Newsham says he is hopeful of being able to make a return to the BTCC grid for the 2017 season after a strong showing on his one-off return at Knockhill.

The Power Maxed Racing driver, who was replacing the absent Kelvin Fletcher for the weekend, qualified inside the top ten and then raced to seventh place in the opening race of the weekend.

Further points following in races two and three, with Newsham keen to stress that he was focused on ensuring that the Knockhill outing isn’t his final appearance in a BTCC car.

“The fire to compete in the BTCC has never gone, but sadly the finances just weren’t there this season,” he said. “Hopefully though, this weekend can act as a bit of a springboard and I’ll be able to return next year as I know the team would like to have me in the car and I’d love to be back in as well.

“My aim this weekend had been to qualify in the top ten which we managed to do, and then to try and stay there on race day. We managed it in race but then went backwards in race two as the tyres were graining, and it was difficult to recover from that in race three.

“However, it was a good weekend all told, and there has been some really positive reaction from fans and plenty of attention from the media.

“Ideally there will be some sponsors out there who have seen what I can do and want to be involved for 2017. We’ll work on a package that we can take to anyone who is interested and will have to see what comes of it.”