Liam Griffin enjoyed a strong showing at Knockhill in the latest round of the British Touring Car Championship with two wins in the Jack Sears Trophy class, but admits that he now faces a tough task to beat Lea Wood to the class honours.
The Addison Lee Motorbase driver lay five wins behind the S2000 class leader Wood heading into the seventh meeting of the season at the Fife venue, but trimmed that margin by one after an enthralling fight with the Vauxhall driver throughout the weekend.
Griffin out-qualified his rival on Saturday before netting his fifth and sixth class wins of the year the following afternoon, beating Wood in race one prior to fending off the Vauxhall Vectra in the second as he edged away through traffic interloping the pair to double his victory tally for the day.
The final race saw Griffin on course for a hat-trick of S2000 spoils, before contact from the Team HARD Vauxhall Insignia of Kieran Gallagher at the hairpin sent him off the circuit, handing a 10th win to main rival Wood on a weekend that saw Griffin reflecting on what could have been.
“Two great wins but still a disappointing end to what could have been a very, very good weekend”, reflected Griffin after a strong performance in Scotland.
“I’ve had Lea [Wood] behind me for the last three races and dealt with it fine but for Gallagher to come out and do that is just unnecessary.
“I would have been two points away from Lea and now I’m four, it just makes it a whole lot harder to close the gap and make the championship challenge at the end. Race three was there for the taking, but unfortunately Gallagher put paid to that. I’m a bit annoyed to be fair.”
Wood’s win following a double triumph for his Ford rival sees the Central Racing Vauxhall Vectra driver now lead the class by four wins with just nine races remaining.
