Rain would be good - Newsham
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UNLIKE many this Easter weekend, Dave Newsham is a man hoping for rain.
The second round of the British Touring Car Championship season takes place at Donington with free practice and qualifying tomorrow before race day on Sunday.
It is a track that has not been kind to Inverness driver Newsham in the past, but that could all change should the heaven’s choose to open.
"I am a big fan of Donington, I love the track, but for some reasons we have struggled in the past," said the 46-year-old.
"We have been quick there, but always seem to have mechanical issues, crashes or both.
"My aim for this weekend is to try and stay out of trouble, finish all three races in the points and hopefully inside the top 10, which is not easy given that there are 31 quality drivers on the grid this year.
"However, at the Donington Park media day, we were consistently one of the quickest in the wet conditions, so I may be doing a bit of rain dancing this weekend."
It was a mixed start for Newsham on his debut for new team AmD Tuning.Com at Brands Hatch last month in the season opener.
The managing director of Norscott Vending qualified well down the field in 20th place, before finishing 17th in race one and just the one place better in race two.
Newsham, however, showed his potential in the Next Generation Touring Car Ford Focus by claiming ninth place in the final race of the day, claiming seven points to leave him 17th in the overall drivers standings, just nine points off the top 10.
"If I’m honest, Brands Hatch was a little disappointing," he said. "We know the reasons why and they should be fixed for Donington.
"We must not lose sight of the fact that this is a new car for AmD and the team are still learning what makes the car tick.
"However, we gathered a lot of data from Brands Hatch and this should stand us in good stead moving forward.
"Team boss Shaun Hollamby also seemed to be delighted with my performance, so it is great to know that the team are behind me.
"We had a great final race at Brands Hatch after making big changes to the set-up of the car.
"Those changes have given us a new direction to go with the car set-up, so it certainly looks very encouraging for Donington."
See next Friday’s Courier for Dave Newsham’s exclusive diary from Donington.
