More frustration for Newsham
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DAVE Newsham’s British Touring Car Championships fortunes took another turn for the worse after enduring yet more frustration.
After a disappointing showing at Knockhill, the Inverness driver was determined to find form again at Rockingham as the championship entered rounds 22, 23 and 24.
With 27 cars lining up, it was the biggest entry in years for a British Touring Car grid, but Newsham was unable to make the impression he wanted.
A difficult qualifying session was quickly followed by a crash in race one, while his car did not even start race two following mechanical problems on the way to the grid.
"Nothing went right for us at Rockingham," said Newsham. "This had the potential to be our best weekend of the year, but turned out to be our worst.
"The only positive we can take from this is that the car is quick in race trim. I’m now just hoping that my luck is due to change soon."
The problems endured later on were in stark contrast to Newsham’s efforts in practice as he finished the session in an encouraging seventh place overall
From this point, however, it all started to go wrong for the 45-year-old as being held up by a slower driver cost him precious time in his first qualifying run, before an accident involving another car brought out the red flag.
Practice restarted with just a few minutes remaining and with Newsham only able to match his earlier time, he finished down in 20th.
A poor start in race one was not ideal, yet Newsham still managed to make up some places going into the first corner, but a coming together with Jeff Smith put him off the track, albeit briefly.
However, he recovered well and by lap six was in the points in 10th place and looking a genuine contender to move even further up the field until a mistake by Rob Austin resulted in him slamming into the side of Newsham’s car and sending him into the gravel trap, meaning race over
"After a very disappointing qualifying, I was still very confident we had a quick race car and was looking forward to the first race," he said.
"Despite a small off on the first lap, I was making lots of places up and things were looking good. I could see Rob on my tail, but I didn’t think he would take me out of the race like that.
"I had a chat with him after the race and I could see from the look on his face that he was disappointed with himself. I accepted his apology and put it behind me."
Newsham’s luck then took another turn for the worse on race two as a wire to the fuel pump on his car came loose, resulting in it breaking down on its way to the grid.
After watching the other drivers from the sidelines, Newsham cut a frustrated figure as he started from the back in race three.
A good start got him up the field early on, but after being hit by Liam Griffin, Newsham struggled with his steering into right-hand corners.
As a result, his tyres soon ran out of grip and despite moving up to 12th on lap eight, he dropped back by three places to finish 15th overall, missing out on points for the second race meeting in succession.
It is now off to Brands Hatch this weekend for Newsham and his Special Tuning Racing Team as they bid to get the season back on track.
