Dave Newsham scores best result of 2013 at Croft
Speedworks Motorsport’s Dave Newsham landed his best result of the season in the sodden third race at Croft, and hopes it will be the springboard to success in the second half of the campaign.
The popular 45-year-old has showed glimpses of his 2012 form in the NGTC Toyota Avensis, but a number of non-finishes and other issues have stymied his progress.
But it all came together in the final race at Croft, where Newsham was on the front-running pace for several laps, eventually coming home fifth.
He lost fourth spot to reigning champion Gordon Shedden’s Honda late on, but was still positive after the race.
Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Newsham said: “It was torrential, and I couldn’t see the front of my bonnet for the first half of the race.
“There were rivers causing big issues, and it was just a case of staying on track, and making sure I wasn’t going to fly off anywhere.
“I seemed to be hanging onto the leaders for a while, then understeer started coming in, and I thought it best to finish, than end up in a tyre wall.
“I thought I might be able to hold off Gordon [Shedden] but I just went into Sunny In and there was a big river there, which threw me off the circuit.
“It’s the best result of the year so far, and considering we had a DNF in the first race, and came from the back to 10th in the second, we obviously had some pace this weekend.”
The second half of the season features a number of tracks where Newsham excels, meaning he is upbeat about his prospects.
He said: “Snetterton and Knockhill are two of my favourite tracks, and I’ve always done well at Silverstone. Then there’s Brands Hatch.
“We have got the car working really well now, so hopefully we are going to have a strong second half to the season.
“It has just been frustrating [so far]. We have had a lot of DNFs, but we have made the car better – which stops the DNFs quite often.
“If you’re competitive, and at the sharp end, the driving standard are usually a bit better, and that can help.”
