MOTORSPORT: WEST Thurrock's AmDTuning.com team will aim to continue the progress made so far in the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship when the series heads to Thruxton this weekend for the third meeting of the season.

The West Thurrock-based team heads to the high-speed Hampshire circuit having scored points in three of the six races run so far, with new signing Dave Newsham enjoying a solid weekend on track last time out at Donington Park.

There, the Inverness-based racer showed strong pace throughout race day at the wheel of the team’s new NGTC-spec Ford Focus to bring home a brace of points finishes; with the two-time race winner being particularly impressive in challenging wet conditions where his lap times were equal to anyone else on track.

Heading to Thruxton, Dave and the team will now aim to improve the one lap pace in the Ford to secure a stronger position in qualifying, with the aim being to bring home points in all three races for the first time this season.

“I’m really looking forward to this weekend as Thruxton is one of my favourite circuits on the calendar,” the two-time race winner said. “We learned a lot last time out at Donington Park and showed strong pace in all three races, even with some damage we sustained at the start of race three. In the wet in particular, I think we were able to match anyone.

“That was a good boost for the team and showed we have a good car in race conditions, so we need to work this weekend on improving our qualifying performance as that has been our Achilles heel so far this season. We’ll work on trying to get a good qualifying set-up in the two practice sessions and if we can get ourselves into the top ten on the grid, it would put us in a good position for race day.

“Three points finishes are the target this weekend, and if everything goes to plan, maybe we could benefit from the reverse grid and make a push for the podium.”

The Thruxton weekend will mark the first weekend for the team in a new partnership with Millers Oils, with the Brighouse company having agreed to become the official lubricant partner to AmDTuning.com for the remainder of the season.

With that in mind, team boss Shaun Hollamby said he was keen for the team to enjoy a strong weekend on track.

“It’s great for us to have a new partner in Millers Oils and we’re excited to get the partnership underway this weekend at Thruxton,” he said. “We’re heading into the third round of the year in confident mood as we’ve shown the pace we have with the Ford, and just need to find a bit more in qualifying as it’s so close this season; a few tenths of a second in qualifying could really move us up the grid.

“We’re continuing to learn all the time as a team, and I see no reason why we can’t be pushing for the top ten this weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to challenge for our best result of the season so far.”