From the impossible to over the moon for new Goodyear FIA ETRC Chrome champion Newell

Newell was still winless ahead of the Int. Shell ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix weekend and left Germany facing an eight-point deficit to Mark Taylor, last year’s champion.

But five wins across the Most, Zolder and Le Mans weekends fired him to the Chrome title summit with the championship clinched following Race 3 in Spain, much to the British driver’s delight.

“Superb, I’m over the moon with that,” Newell said after putting the title out of Taylor’s reach. “It worked out that little bit easier than I thought it would do but once we started pulling a gap, I could relax a bit, just kept it safe coming home so it’s done now.

“If the first half of the season started like that, we’d have been [home and dry a long time ago]. Compared to where we were mid-season to where we are now, we’re in a completely different place.”

Asked if he’d ever doubted that he’d come out on top at the end of the season, Newell said: “When we got to Nürburgring and we were still struggling I thought it might not be possible. But after that it just come alive and we were gone.

“The team has worked endlessly, night and day to get this truck right and they’re still working hard. Without them and my sponsors we couldn’t do it.”