Happy Griffin leads Jack Sears Trophy after Brands

A delighted Liam Griffin celebrated his first ever British Touring Car Championship podium at Brands Hatch, and says it was the prospect of competing in the Jack Sears Trophy which gave him the motivation to return to the series.

Motorbase driver Griffin left the Kent circuit leading the S2000 class after two wins – one on the circuit in race two, and the second in the stewards’ room, after rival Lea Wood was disqualified from race three for failing a ride height check.

And the 40-year-old is confident his proven Ford Focus will help him compete with his rivals over the course of the season.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Griffin said: “Whatever you race and whatever series you’re in, it is nice to be up on the podium.

“Without the Jack Sears trophy I wouldn’t have bothered coming back, but they have created something that gives blokes like me an opportunity to win something.

“There are some decent drivers in there, and throughout the season we are going to be quite close. It is going to be competitive between four or five of us, who are going to have our own battles.

“James Kaye has won championships before, and Lea Wood is historically quicker than me. But it’s not always about the fastest car, it’s about who finishes the most races.

“I am probably going to go for consistency rather than out-and-out pace, and see what we can pick up along the way.”

Griffin beat Kaye’s Amd Tuning Volkswagen Golf home in race two to claim his first class win of the day.

He said: “It was so cold, and to get heat in the rear tyres you have to be quite sensible. You don’t want to throw it off in the first couple of laps, which you could easily have done.

“Once I got on the back of James Kaye I felt I had the pace of him, it was just getting past. He made a mistake with a few laps to go, and it just opened up.”

For Kaye, it was a weekend of highs and lows, as he took the first ever Jack Sears Trophy win in the first race, but was forced to sit out the third race with gearbox issues.

“We have a problem which started in the middle of the second race, which slowed us down towards the end. We were leading and had to drop back,” Kaye told TouringCarTimes.

“We don’t want to destroy the gearbox, so we are going to repair it and get to Donington. It’s a great shame really.

“But the car went well up until then, we won the first ever Jack Sears Trophy, so that’s a tick in the box.

“We know what we have got to do for Donington. It is a very good platform – considering this is a home-built car, run by a tuning shop and not a racing team, it is fantastic.”

On his return to the BTCC, Kaye added: “I started Sunday morning with a bit of trepidation but that soon sorted itself out on the first lap.”