It was a tough weekend in the opening round of the British Touring Cars at Brands Hatch for the Wrotham based Airwaves Racing team.

With a new car set-up for the New Generation Touring Cars that they were running and the changing weather conditions, it presented a massive challenge for the Kent team to find the pace their cars showed last season.

Mechanical issues also hampered their progress in the three opening races of the season, with both drivers Mat Jackson and Aron Smith suffering.

In Race One it was Aron Smith who finished ahead of his teammate coming home in 9^th place despite suffering with gear change issues. Jackson was unfortunate in collecting debris from the incidents around him that meant he could only come over the line in 20^th place.

Race Two was a different matter with Jackson showing what the car can do, moving up to eighth place before being promoted to seventh after the race following Gordon Sheddon’s disqualification for a ride height infringement. It meant that the Airwaves Racing team collected points in both its opening races, with Smith in the first race and Jackson in the second earning them. In race two Smith was forced to retire from the race after suffering an electrical issue.

The final race of the afternoon saw the grid reversed following a draw, Jackson inherited pole position after Sheddon’s disqualification from race two. Despite a strong start he began to drop back through the field, but a combination of an accident involving Rob Austin and Dave Newsham and soft tyres saw him overhauled.

Jackson eventually crossed the line in tenth place just a place ahead of teammate Smith who had done well to make up ten places having started the final race in 21^st place.

Speaking after the race a frustrated and disappointed Jackson, said: ““We’ve made a lot of different changes to the set up today and we were chasing the circuit with it being so cold. Both cars are down a different road so we’re learning twice as much data so we’ve got a lot to work with between now and the next round at Donington.

“Overall though, we’ve got a bit more of an understanding of where we are and where we need to be and feel positive that we’ve got the direction now that we need to go in to push the cars forward. We also need to iron out the reliability issues we suffered from this weekend, which we’ll do over the next few weeks.”

By Contrast though in the Jack Sears Trophy Liam Griffin had a fantastic weekend in his S2000 winning two of the opening three races to lead the standings heading to Donington Park.

In Race One he struggled to find any pace and finished down the order in the main race and the Jack Sears Trophy. Race Two however was far better for the Addison Lee Motorbase Performance driver after a stunning drive saw him cross the line in 11^th place and in first place in the Jack Sears Trophy race.

Race Three saw him show his race pace one again as he finished in 16^th place and second in the Jack Sears class behind Lea Wood, however after the race Wood was disqualified and therefore Griffin was promoted to first place.

The weekend was therefore one of contract for the Motorbase team, with the NGTC cars struggling on their home track, but for Griffin in the Addison Lee car had his best ever weekend in the BTCC.

Speaking after the final race of the day a delighted Griffin, said: ““That was a great weekend. I came back to try and win some silverware and to have a little bit of competition, and that’s what the Jack Sears Trophy is all about. We’ve got a few really good drivers in there that are fairly evenly matched and I think it’ll be quite a good fun season now.

“Ultimately that’s what you come racing for – to get on that podium; so to be stood there next to BTCC champions spraying champagne is a pretty special moment!”

There is now a break for a few weeks which will allow the team to do some work on their cars ahead of round two at Donington Park on the weekend of 20/21^st April.

Pictures supplied by PSP Images.