Dave Newsham targeting indie title with Speedworks

Dave Newsham says an independents’ title assault and overall race wins are his targets after inking a deal with Speedworks Motorsport for the 2013 British Touring Car Championship season.

The 45-year-old based in Inverness, who took two wins in the series last year driving the Team ES Racing Vauxhall Vectra, is stepping up to NGTC machinery for the first time.

The 2010 Clio Cup champion is confident Christian Dick’s outfit will provide him with a car which can run at the front of the field – and revealed he had been trying to strike a deal with the team for the last two years.

Newsham replaces Tony Hughes, who retired from driving duties at the end of the 2012 season.
Speaking to TouringCarTimes at the Autosport International Show, Newsham said: “I think we can do really well. Tony [Hughes] retiring has helped, as he is part-supporting this drive for me. It is down to Tony I am here.

“I know Christian and I know the guys, they are really good engineering team. This is the third generation of the Speedworks car and I am convinced we can do really well.

“We have got a good budget behind us so we are going to do it properly, so we will get quite a bit of testing. And there is quite a lot of development to come from the car.

“We have got to be going out there and trying to win the independents’ championship. That is our goal – to win as many races as we can, to try and get as many podiums as we can, and try to be in there at the end of it.”

Newsham caught the eye in the 2012 season with a string of front-running performances – results he said weren’t a surprise to him.

He said: “I kind of always knew I could do it. You don’t win the Clio Cup championship the way I did if you can’t drive. Last year, as soon as I jumped in that Vectra, felt at home with it. Within three laps I thought, ‘this car is mega’.

“I only had two test days – one at Brands Hatch and one at media day. I topped the times at media day and I thought we could do really well.

“I think when the S2000 car could compete against the NGTC car, we were always there. When the S2000 couldn’t compete, like Rockingham and Croft, where there is higher tyre degradation, we were miles off.

“We did as good as we could with the S2000 but we have got to be in it with this [car] this year.”
Now Newsham is looking forward to getting some meaningful miles in the Avensis under his belt – something he didn’t manage during his only test to date.

He said: “I did one test day at Donington in November and it was freezing cold – we just couldn’t get any heat into the rear tyres. It was like driving an out lap every lap, the back end was sliding everywhere. It wasn’t a good indication of what the car can do.

“I was in Tony’s seat so I was rattling about in that! And I could hardly see over the steering wheel.
“But it was good to meet the team and see how the engineers operate. I have got a lot of faith that they know exactly what they are doing with this car. I believe I am a quick driver and we will do well.”

As for his rivals for the upcoming season, Newsham said: “Jordan in the Honda, Mat Jackson – there is going to be quite a few. But I want to be right in there and I want to be scoring a lot of points, and give these guys the results they deserve.”