Clarke Energy congratulates Dave Newsham on his win for the 3rd British Touring Car Championship Race at Knockhill.
Commentary from Dave’s team below:
Celebrating 20 years of touring cars at Knockhill, Scottish Touring Car Legend John Cleland drew the number from the bowl for the reverse grid. Nobody was more surprised than Dave as No. 10 was drawn giving him ‘pole’ for Race Three.
With a total gamble on car set-up, it would be an interesting race into the unknown for the final race.
With a sprinkle of rain just before the start the track was greasy but as it had stopped, slick tyres were the only option. Dave saw this as a positive (every cloud, and all that) and with total confidence in his car no matter the conditions, Dave decided that it was his chance to try and pull out a gap whilst the conditions were tricky.
Lights went out to start the race and Dave got a good one leading into the first corner. The car was sliding but as planned, Dave pushed as hard as he dared crossing the line to finish the first lap over a second clear of second-place man, Jeff Smith. By Lap 6 Dave had opened up a substantial 4.3 second gap.
The track was now bone dry so Dave concentrated on looking after his tyres as with 20 laps still to go he was concerned that his pace would drop off during the latter part of the race.
As the race went on, the gap started to close as expected but only by a few tenths per lap.
Crossing the start/finish line to start his last lap, Dave still had the gap at over a second and he knew that he had it in the bag! Taking his second win in as many rounds – a truly incredible feat!
Once again it was an emotional experience for our hero – the first win is special, but to win on home turf is simply amazing. Again, Dave was flabbergasted by the roar of the crowd as he stepped onto the top step of the podium – a humbling moment for the humblest of men.
On reflection – at Snetterton Dave had maximum turbo boost and was one of the quickest cars through the speed traps. At Knockhill, Dave was only 11th quickest through the speed traps 3mph down, making this win even more satisfying… He did this on pure race-craft!
Dave would like to thank everyone who made the trip from Inverness to come and support him – he would also like to thank all of his followers and fans who support him through Twitter and Facebook too as the messages of congratulations and well done are simply overwhelming.
Rockingham in Corby on 23rd September is the venue for the next round of races. Dave can’t wait and as his car won there last year in the hands of James Nash, the pressure to do well is on his shoulders once again!
