Sport   Other Sports   Touring Cars

Dave Newsham tests the NGTC Toyota Avensis at Donington Park

By MJP Media | 29 November 2012

Dave Newsham travelled from Inverness to Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire today to test the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis and found it totally different to the Vectra he drove in the 2012 BTCC season.

Christian Dick with Dave Newsham at Donington Park

Today, Thursday, saw Dave Newsham finally test in an NGTC touring car for the first time. The multiple 2012 British Touring Car Championship race winner was a guest of Speedworks Motorsport supremo Christian Dick at Leicestershire's Donington Park circuit to put the team's Toyota Avensis through its paces. The circuit was blessed with a cloudless sky for the day, but was bitterly cold.

It was a long day for Newsham who caught the 6:00 am flight from Inverness to attend the test and even had to contend with a delay before take-off whilst they de-iced the plane. He landed at Manchester before heading to Donington to begin the real day's work in the car.

Newsham testing in Tony Hughes' 2012 NGTC Toyota Avensis

The test was highly eventful as Newsham had never driven an NGTC car before. "It's fantastic" he said "and a real learning experience. Basically, it responds totally differently to my Vectra and kept doing things I didn't expect!" Having said that, it was a testing time for all the drivers out on track as temperatures hardly got above zero all day, preventing tyres from getting up to full temperature. Newsham continued: "There's a lot to take in with the Avensis and I would love the chance to give it another run, preferably when there is a bit of temperature to play with. Even after a 5 lap stint, the back tyres were still cold, but I loved it".

Newsham put in quite a number of laps in the day, gaining valuable time as well as providing the team with some good feedback. Team Principal Christian Dick said "To have a driver of the calibre of Dave in the car is a great opportunity for us to see what he thinks. It would be fantastic if we had someone like Dave in the car next season. It was just a pity that it was so cold that we couldn't properly show the car's full potential and road-holding today, but we both gained a lot from the test".

Dave Newsham gives the Speedworks Toyota Avensis the 'thumbs up'

It will be interesting to see whether this partnership is destined to develop further. Certainly the Speedworks Toyota Avensis is an outstanding car and Newsham is a driver with an excellent reputation. Will it be a marriage made in heaven? We'll have to wait and see.

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media