Dave Newsham heads to Thruxton for rounds 7, 8 and 9 of the 2013 British Touring Car Championship hoping to replicate his podium finish from 12 months ago.
“I gained a second place result last year on a soaking wet weekend. We need to be aiming at that kind of outcome again to start climbing the championship order,” Newsham said.
Thruxton marks the longest trip of the season for the Inverness based racer and he is looking to kick start his campaign with a strong result after a double top ten finish at Donington Park.
“It’s been a tough start to the season,” explains the 45 year old.
“However we learned a lot at Donington that will stand us in good stead for this weekend. Thruxton is one of my favourite tracks too; it’s high-speed, which should suit the car and also my style of driving.”
After the opening six races, Newsham finds himself ninth in the Independents’ and 12th overall and Christian Dick is hopeful Newsham and Speedworks team-mate Ollie Jackson will continue to improve.
“We’re happy with where we are after Donington; Dave’s results were solid, and put some points on the board,” commented Dick.
“A lot of effort went in to giving both drivers a more balanced car, which was also a faster one by the end of race day.
“These things don’t just come easy, particularly when an engineer and team is getting used to working with a different driver. It takes time.
“We’re heading in the right direction now at a rate of knots.”
He is hoping that the weekend is a dry one but if it isn’t dry, Dick hopes that it’ll be wet all day.
“Ideally the weather will stay the same all weekend. If it’s dry, then great. If not, then we’d prefer it to rain non-stop to give us time to develop a wet set-up,” he added.
Jackson is determined to bounce back after a tough Donington Park weekend, having suffered damage in each of the three races in the East Midlands.
“We were all blown away by what Ollie achieved [at Brands Hatch] in the first round, so expectations perhaps were raised a little too high for Donington,” continued Dick.
“His disadvantage in terms of a lack of seat time was more apparent there, but with another race day under his belt he’ll start again with renewed enthusiasm.
“Ollie is an experienced BTCC racer; he’ll come good, no doubt about it,” he concluded.