Front suspension failure puts Dave Newsham on the back foot

Speedworks Motorsport’s Dave Newsham is set to miss the second free practice session after a front-left suspension failure saw his first practice session ended early, with the team fighting to repair the car for qualifying this afternoon.

The Inverness-based driver had just set the fifth fastest time when his suspension failed heading into the SEAT curves, which saw the Toyota Avensis careering off through the grass and stopped on the circuit with just under ten minutes remaining.

“We actually clobbered the kerbs through the chicane and knocked the steering out a little bit, so we came in and checked it all and everything seemed to be fine,” said Newsham to TouringCarTimes. “So I went back out there and did a few laps and it was just as I hit the brakes at the end of the straight the left-front collapsed. It’s actually pulled a leg off the chassis, so a lot of work needs to be done now. We’re going to try and weld it back on for qualifying and then put a new one on overnight.”

Newsham’s time was good enough for ninth at the end of the session, but the repairs will likely take place throughout free practice 2 with the team targeting getting the car out for qualifying at 15:05 BST.

“There’s more to come, we were still building it up,” said Newsham. “We’ve got to qualify (somewhere) sensible so we can be in the thick of it, but if you qualify mid-field here you’re going to finish mid-field as it’s almost impossible to overtake. Hopefully we’ll get it right for qualifying at the very least and then try and do a bit more (on Sunday).”