Celebrations for first Jack Sears Trophy winner Lea Wood

Lea Wood said he was delighted to have gone down in history as the first winner of the Jack Sears Trophy, after taking an unassailable lead in the standings at Rockingham.

The JWT Performance driver has been the class of the field all season in his Vauxhall Vectra, despite a strong challenge throughout from Motorbase Performance’s Liam Griffin.

Wood now leads the standings by 13 wins to seven with only six races to go, after taking a hat-trick of victories at the Northamptonshire circuit.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Wood said: “It is fantastic to be able to say we won the first Jack Sears Trophy. Obviously it is going to move on into NGTC next year, but to say we won it first goes down in history.

“We have worked hard on the car this year, on what makes it work well. Obviously without the help of everybody it’s not possible, so thanks to everybody in the team.”

Wood also paid tribute to Griffin, who he has raced hard with all year.

He said: “Liam came and spoke to me before the third race because he had to go, as his car had damaged the gearbox badly and he couldn’t race.

“It’s unfortunate, because it’s nice to be able to win with him out there. We have raced closely, and he had a cracking Knockhill – I couldn’t touch him there. I was all over him, but I couldn’t pass him.”

Ironically, it was a problem for Griffin at the start of the formation lap in the first race which set up Wood for a charge from the back – which ended with him snatching victory from David Nye on the last lap.

Griffin brought his Ford Focus into the pits with a mechanical problem, and Wood followed him in to fit slicks, thinking Griffin was doing the same.

As the track dried out, Wood eventually caught Nye’s Focus, and passed him into Chapman Curve.

He said: “That was fantastic. That was only down to the fact that I reacted to thinking Liam was changing to slicks. I didn’t realise he had a problem. But it worked out!”

Looking ahead to next season, Wood said he would like to move up into an NGTC challenger, but this was dependent on funding.

He said: “That’s obviously the goal, but like everything it’s [down to] budget, and working out the best way to go.

“We could run our own car again and we’ve got the team, but unfortunately it is a lot to buy the car.”

The series for the older Super 2000 cars has proved popular, but has seen a gradually diminishing entry through the year. BTCC series director Alan Gow has said the Jack Sears Trophy concept will continue in a different form next season, as the field moves towards an all-NGTC entry.