Newsham claims maiden BTCC win

Dave Newsham scored his first British Touring Car victory in the reversed-grid race at Snetterton.

The ES Racing driver was beaten off the line by Tom Onslow-Cole’s WSR BMW, but took second back before the end of the opening lap. He then closed on the similar Vauxhall Vectra of poleman Lea Wood.

Newsham tracked Wood before making his move down the inside at Montreal on the fourth lap of 12.

As Newsham edged away, a fierce battle raged for third. Mat Jackson overtook Onslow-Cole out of the Bomb Hole and then held a multi-car pack at bay for several laps in Motorbase’s new NGTC Ford Focus.

Under intense pressure, Jackson eventually made a mistake at Nelson, allowing Onslow-Cole, Gordon Shedden’s works Honda Civic and the MG6 of Jason Plato through.

Onslow-Cole started closing on Wood, but ended up not having to make a move when the gearbox failed in the Vectra. The BMW thus took second behind Newsham, with Shedden completing the podium and taking the lead in the drivers’ table.

Behind Plato, Jackson just held off race two winner Andrew Jordan’s Eurotech Honda Civic, while Aron Smith brought Motorbase’s S2000 Focus home seventh.

The next three cars were all recovering. Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota Avensis) and reigning champion Matt Neal’s works Civic had clashed at Hamilton on the opening lap. While Wrathall recovered relatively quickly to take an eventual eighth, Neal crossed the line back in 20th on the first lap.

Sometimes lapping faster than the leaders, Neal charged back and took advantage of a Rob Collard/Rob Austin contretemps to move into ninth. He nevertheless had to defend from Collard’s WSR BMW in the closing stages, Collard himself on a fightback after starting near the rear of the field.

Results – 12 laps:
 
Pos  Driver           Team/Car             Time/Gap
  1.  Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall        24m12.464s
  2.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW              + 0.991s
  3.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                + 2.592s
  4.  Jason Plato      MG                   + 3.066s
  5.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford       + 5.130s
  6.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda       + 5.444s
  7.  Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford       + 6.898s
  8.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota       + 9.676s
  9.  Matt Neal        Honda               + 18.863s
 10.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW             + 19.074s
 11.  Adam Morgan      Speedworks Toyota   + 23.968s
 12.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda      + 24.615s
 13.  Daniel Welch     Welch Proton        + 37.279s
 14.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW             + 39.353s
 15.  Ollie Jackson    AmD VW              + 41.114s
 16.  Andy Neate       MG                  + 49.359s
 17.  Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota   + 49.461s
 18.  Robb Holland     Gilham Honda        + 52.714s
 
Retirements:
 
     Lea Wood         Wood Vauxhall          8 laps
      Rob Austin       Austin Audi            7 laps
      Tony Gilham      Thorney Vauxhall       6 laps
      Chris James      ES Vauxhall             1 lap
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/touring-cars/btcc/newsham-claims-maiden-btcc-win

Mika H‰kkinen Bruce Halford Jim Hall Duncan Hamilton