Croft, North Yorkshire 1st November & Rockingham, Northants 8th November 2008

AMERY MOTORSPORT WIN FINAL RACE OF THE SERIES

Following a frantic season in the ELF Renault Clio Cup, supporting the hi-profile British Touring Car Championship, Congleton based Amery Motorsport were straight back in the thick of the action again, as they ran two cars in the Clio Cup winter series.

With recent signing Dave Newsham at the wheel of the number 50 car, hopes were high following Dave’s impressive debut at the final event of the season at Brands Hatch in September, where he finished on the podium in his first ever Clio Cup race. Also joining the team in the winter series was Clio newcomer Darren Wilson, ex 750 Motor Club Stock Hatch racer.

The Clio Cup winter series is an ideal introduction to Clio racing for newcomers to the series, before they embark on a full season in the high-profile, high-octane championship for 2009. The two event, four race mini-series kicked-off in North Yorkshire, at the fast, technical, Croft racing circuit, with the final two rounds being held at the Rockingham raceway in Northants a week later.

Whilst Darren Wilson was using the series to get up to speed with the car, Dave Newsham was looking to be right at the front, following his impressive pace to date. Qualifying proved frustrating for both drivers with Darren spinning off and damaging his car and Dave suffering with major over-steer and ending 4th on the grid for both races, yet still only half a second off pole position.

Race One saw Dave start well only to struggle as it started to rain, his slick-shod car proved a real handful around the fast sections of the track and after several battles, he eventually finished the race in 5th place. Race two again saw Dave make a good start only to be taken out on the first lap and limp to the pits with a bent rear axle.

After the disappointments of Croft, the Amery Motorsport team headed to Rockingham, the famous banked oval with its tricky infield section, proves a real challenge for the drivers and team, as set-up is crucial and always a compromise on some of the corners.
With all eyes on Dave again, qualifying went well, with the ex-World Champion Legends racer lying in second place for most of the session, only to be demoted to 4th again for both races in the final few minutes.

With a drying track, tyre choice was crucial and with half the grid opting for wets and the other half going on slicks, Stephen Colbert who joined the team as driver coach and race strategy advisor, gave the order to opt for slicks on the front and wets on the rear.

Dave made another great start, but lost several places through the first corner to the drivers on a full wet set-up. As the laps went by, the strategy started to pay dividends and despite a few excursions through the gravel, Dave managed to finish on the podium with a very credible third place.

With his confidence high for race two and a dry track, Dave made another good start and took third place at the first corner, braking late and forcing his rivals into mistakes saw Dave leading the race on lap two. Calling on all his experience to fend off the eventual series winner Aron Smith, Dave took the flag and his first ever win in Clio’s.

The whole team were delighted and celebrated their first win in the ELF Renault Clio Cup. A delighted Martin Amery, team director said after the race, “Dave showed his metal, fending off the series champion lap after lap and had he not had a disaster at Croft , could have been challenging for the title. We can’t wait for next season as I think we will have a winning driver line-up”.

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