Team ES enjoy their best-ever weekend at Brands Hatch

Dave Newsham put in an impressive performance on the Saturday to take pole position, while team principal Chris James suffered handling problems throughout the day which left him in 18th place.

With Newsham on pole he battled it out with past champions Matt Neal and Jason Plato and this ended as the latter nudged Newsham into the gravel trap at Paddock Hill Bend. James brought home his Vectra in 15th to take the first-ever points finish for the team.

Race two was just as eventful as Newsham fought his way from the back of the grid twice, once after starting the race from 18th and then dropping to last place following pit stops.

A spirited drive saw him take ninth as James retired from the race with a broken rear suspension arm.

After narrowly missing out on the reverse grid pole position, Newsham pushed hard from the start but a red flag stopped the race after seven cars slid off track at Druids bend following an oil leak from Mat Jackson.

Team ES lined up in sixth and 11th place for the reformed grid. Newsham got stuck in with Plato, Andrew Jordan, Rob Austin, and Robert Collard, with Plato pushing his way to the front. Newsham kept a steady pace briefly dropping a place back to fifth before making it up on lap 11.

Three laps later and the Vectra jumped into the final podium place where it would remain until the finish, marking the best result for both the team and Newsham’s year-old BTCC careers. James put in a strong performance to secure 12th place.

James said: “The weekend has been mega, little old Team ES with all the doubters have shown we can do as we said pre-season and challenge for podiums and victories.

“It’s a shame Dave’s race ended in the gravel trap as it could have been a hat-trick of podiums for the team.

“We’ve proved the naysayers wrong saying that we haven’t got the capabilities of manpower and finished on the podium against much stronger competition with bigger, more experienced teams.”

A delighted Newsham added: “First podium is a great feeling – I’m loving driving the car.

“It was a great result and I can’t wait to get back out in the car at Donington Park.”