Newsham tops media day test
Dave Newsham posted the quickest time during official testing for the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Silverstone.
The Team ES Racing.com driver led the way at the wheel of his new Vauxhall Vectra, with a time of 58.965secs putting him nearly four-tenths of a second clear of the new NGTC-spec Honda Civic of Gordon Shedden.
Newsham's time came despite him suffering a front-left puncture mid-way through the session.
Defending champion Matt Neal was third quickest in his Honda ahead of Rob Collard's eBay Motors BMW, with Collard putting more miles on the new turbo engine.
Andrew Jordanw was fifth in his Pirtek Racing Civic ahead of the Audi of Mark Hazell; the time being set by team boss Rob Austin who also spent time in the car - as did Chris Swanwick.
Tom Onslow-Cole was seventh fastest at the wheel of the car of team-mate Nick Foster, with Aron Smith, Chris James and Liam Griffin rounding out the top ten.
Griffin caused one of three red flags during the day when he suffered a spin, while Shedden and Tony Hughes also caused stoppages.
Jeff Smith, Ollie Jackson, Lea Wood, Tony Gilham and Mat Jackson rounded out the 15 drivers to set a lap time, the latter suffering mechanical issues that restricted him to just eleven laps.
Hughes, John Thorne and Adam Morgan all turned laps but didn't record times, while the new MG6 of Jason Plato only completed tracking shots before being taken back to base to allow Triple Eight to continue work on preparing the car for its first run proper.
Neither Dynojet Racing or Welch Motorsport were on track.
Testing times - Silverstone:
1. Dave Newsham Team ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra58.965secs
2. Gordon Shedden Honda Yuasa Racing Honda Civic59.359secs
3. Matt Neal Honda Yuasa Racing Honda Civic59.373secs
4. Robert Collard eBay Motors BMW 320si59.408secs
5. Andrew Jordan Pirtek Racing Honda Civic59.438secs
6. Mark Hazell Rob Austin Racing Audi A459.495secs
7. Tom Onslow-Cole eBay Motors BMW 320si59.569secs
8. Aron Smith Redstone Racing Ford Focus59.646secs
9. Chris James Team ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra59.693secs
10. Liam Griffin Redstone Racing Ford Focus59.857secs
11. Jeff Smith Pirtek Racing Honda Civic59.874secs
12. Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning.com VW Golf59.949secs
13. Lea Wood BINZ Racing Vauxhall Vectra1min 00.318secs
14. Tony Gilham RCIB Insurance & HARD Honda Civic1min 03.573secs
15. Mat Jackson Redstone Racing Ford Focus1min 08.697secs
