Dave Newsham Leads Second Practice For Team ES Racing

Dave Newsham proved the pace of the Team ES Racing Vauxhall Vectra once more, setting the best time of the second practice at Donington Park.

The opening ten minutes of the session was dominated by the trio of Matt Neal, Jason Plato and Rob Austin as they lapped faster and faster as the cars got up to speed. I only took nine minutes for time to eclipse Mat Jackson's practice one table topper as Neal recorded a 1:11.328 to lead Plato and Austin. The Honda driver followed up, taking another three tenths of his own time.

Into this leading threesome appeared Dave Newsham, first setting the second fastest time, seven-hundredths slower than Neal, then going five tenths faster than the defending champion to set the fastest time that would remain unbeaten for the remaining 27 minutes of the session.

Set whilst many of the other leaders were stopped in the pits Newsham's time (1:10.967) was the only lap under the 71 second barrier, with Neal and Plato's times remaining second and third.

There were few improvements at the top, Shedden slotting into fifth behind Andrew Jordan who was fast once more. Mat Jackson, after leading practice one found two tenths worth of extra speed to demote Shedden to sixth. Austin, Aron Smith, and eBay Motors duo Rob Collard and Tom Onslow–Cole completing the top ten. The top twelve – Frank Wrathall and Andy Neate rounding out the dozen – were all covered by less than a second.

The session was interrupted by a red flag in the final ten minutes. Adam Morgan's BTCC baptism of fire continued as he slid off at the Craner Curves, his Speedworks Toyota coming to rest on the inside of the Old Hairpin. The session clock was reset to five minutes for the restart and though most of the field returned to the track for a final run improvements were hard to come by and little changed at the top of times.