Lea Wood: “We’re building a platform for next year”

Lea Wood has reflected on a challenging first half of the 2014 season, and says the experience his JWT Performance squad is gaining with their new Toyota Avensis will stand them in good stead next season.

Wood’s deal to be on the grid came together at the very last minute, meaning no time for any pre-season testing before the opening round at Brands Hatch in March.

And although the weekend brought with it the inevitable teething troubles, impressively the races saw Wood’s only DNFs of the season to date.

The 2013 Jack Sears Trophy champion has scored a best result of 13th at Donington Park, and finished 14th in the final race before the break at Croft.

Looking back on the opening races, Wood said: “Given the lack of running we had, Brands was always going to be something of a glorified test session. As such it was great to get some miles on the clock and bring the car home in one piece.

“[The reliability] is testament to how hard everyone is working. We’re all pulling in the same direction and reliability has been our reward. It makes my job a great deal easier when the car just runs, so I’m very thankful!

“While Brands was all about solving problems, Donington allowed us to demonstrate a little bit of our potential. Securing three finishes, two of them in the points, was a great reward for the team’s hard work.

“At both Thruxton and Oulton Park we worked extremely hard on development, trying a lot of different things and gathering data that will be very handy next year. That’s been the story of the season so far.

“We’re doing a great deal of testing throughout each weekend with the focus on being even stronger in 2015. If we can also score strong results then all the better, but we’re definitely taking a long-term approach.

“It was a relief to finally get a few good results at Croft. We put in some extra work to make it happen by spending time in the simulator at Silverstone ahead of the weekend. It was really satisfying for that to pay off.”

Wood has also proved competitive in the new Jack Sears Trophy. Revised for 2014, this rewards the independent driver who makes up the most places from their grid slot. Wood currently lies 11th of the 27 competitors involved with 37 points, one spot ahead of two-time BTCC champion Fabrizio Giovanardi.

He said: “We’re learning every weekend and, as I mentioned, building a platform to perform even better next season. I’ve scored overall championship points on a few occasions and we’re not doing too badly in the Jack Sears Trophy either. That’s more than we could have asked after such a frantic race to be ready for the new season. The team deserve a lot of credit for this and now we’ve got to carry on that good work throughout the second half of the year.

“I’d also like to say a big thank you to all my supporters and sponsors, particularly Houseman Dry Lining, Central Roofing, Morris Lubricants, S&P Crossways Garage, and Wheel Heaven. They’ve kept me on the grid this season and I’m proud to carry their colours in the BTCC.”