Photo: PSP Images

Griffin rues disastrous day after incident packed two races

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Liam Griffin has had a torrid time in the first two races today at Donington Park, retiring in both races in incidents, with the Motorbase driver caught up with Team ES Racing’s Chris James and in the gravel in race two.

The Motorbase Performance Ford driver was battling behind Adam Morgan’s Speedworks Toyota, Andy Neate’s Triple Eight MG and Chris James’ Team ES Racing Vauxhall, which was defending hard from Neate, before he slipped out wide at MacLeans.

Andy Neate took the position, but while defending from Morgan, he pulled to the right, with Morgan turning towards Griffin, with Griffin and James making contact and both travelling off the track into retirement.

“We came out at the weekend with 13 race finishes and now two DNFs and I have to say neither of them my fault,” said Griffin to TouringCarTimes.

“(In race one) I got T-boned by Lea Wood who’d been collected by Chris James as well…so Chris has had an eventful day, unfortunately I’ve been on the receiving end both times.”

On the race two incident, Griffin added:
“I’ve not seen it yet, but from a drivers perspective he’s run wide, I’ve got a run on all three of them up the hill, Adam Morgan’s gone tight to the right, I’ve gone to the left of Adam and as Chris has rejoined he’s rejoined at a fairly substantial angle and he’s done a lot of damage.”

Last year, Griffin was caught up in the race two incident between Honda’s Gordon Shedden and RML’s Jason Plato, with Motorbase and RML able to repair to the two heavily damaged cars for the third race, with Griffin going on to take his first points from the back of the grid.

“This has not been a lucky circuit for me, but last year race three was my best race of the season so let’s see if we can do it again.”

Chris James’ finished in 17th place in race one, but with the DNF in race two will be starting in 18th, one spot ahead of Griffin in the final race today.

“At MacLeans I just run ever so slightly wide, coming back on the track literally stuck to the left and Griffin just maybe thought he was going to pounce and squeeze me out,” said James to TouringCarTimes. “And it’s fine squeezing me out at Coppice but not just obliterate me in the side. It’s just wrecked what was up until that point a very good race.”