Newsham targets home success
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DAVE Newsham is hopeful of joining fellow Scot Gordon Shedden on the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship podium at his home circuit of Knockhill this weekend.
The Inverness driver will arrive at the Fife circuit off the back of his most competitive showing to date in the BTCC.
Some 500 miles away at Snetterton in Norfolk last month, he finished all three races on the day inside the hallowed top 10 and even briefly tasted the lead in one of them.
Newsham is currently back home, running his successful Norscott coffee vending machine business out of its headquarters in the city as well as another base in Aberdeen, and the 44-year-old is feeling confident about his chances at Knockhill.
While Fife racer Shedden, who drives for the high-profile factory Honda Racing Team and is currently in the running for the BTCC crown, is expected to shine on home ground, Newsham is also hopeful of giving Knockhill’s trackside crowd another name to cheer.
"It was only my third event with the team, but Snetterton showed just how much the car and I have gelled," said Newsham, who races a SEAT Leon for the Special Tuning Racing team. "I’d say we are now genuinely showing mid-top 10 pace.
"Gordon’s been in the BTCC for five years now and is always the big name when the BTCC comes to Scotland, but I was ahead of him in one of the races at Snetterton for a while.
"I don’t think I got the results I merited there either, so I’m going to Knockhill pretty fired up. I really want to be on the podium and believe that the SEAT, given its past results there, is capable of it."
Although he originally hails from the North West of England, Newsham very much considers himself to be Scottish and takes great pride in the fact that it was at Knockhill last year where he won the Renault Clio Cup drivers title before his graduation to the BTCC this year.
"I moved up to Inverness to start the Norscott company in 1994," he said. "My first-ever race on four wheels was at Golspie kart track about 60 miles north of Inverness. I won my second race there and was also the local club champion.
"There’s a lot of Scottish blood running through my family’s veins as well. My dad was half-Scottish and my wife’s grandfather was from Orkney, plus both my kids, who are now into their teens, were born and raised here and I couldn’t have wished for a better upbringing for them.
"Inverness might be three and a half hours’ drive from Knockhill, but people up here are used to driving long distances to get to events.
"From what I’m hearing, a lot of people from the area will be driving to Knockhill for BTCC weekend and that makes me feel great. It brings a bit more pressure, but that only adds to the buzz."
Newsham will come up against his BTCC rivals, including Shedden, in three headline races at Knockhill on Sunday.
Tickets for race day cost £25 in advance and can be booked right up until today. To book, or for details of other ticketing options including discounts on weekend passes and concessions, visit the www.knockhill.com website, or call the circuit on (01383) 723337. Admission for children aged 12 and under is free all weekend.
Meanwhile, for all the latest BTCC news in the build-up to the event visit the championship’s official website at www.btcc.net website
