The AmDTuning.com team enjoyed a successful start to the 2013 British Touring Car Championship after James Kaye brought the team their first piece of silverware.
The Isle-of-Wight racer brought the teams’ Volkswagen Golf home as the first of the Jack Sears Trophy runners in the opening race of the 30 race season, and in the process secured his first outright Championship point of the season.
He looked to repeat the result in the second race but a gearbox issue plus an NGTC car with issues of its own meant that he lost out after a safety car to Liam Griffin. Kaye finished second in the Jack Sears Trophy despite crossing the line 12th overall.
He was forced to miss the final race of the weekend due to the gearbox issue but despite missing the third race of the season, Kaye is pleased with how his first weekend in the S2000 Volkswagen Golf went.
“It’s been fantastic,” he said, “I don’t know what else to say; maybe we just peaked a bit too early! The team did a great job with the car and it was perfect in the opening race, and we looked good again in race two despite the fact that the gearbox developed an issue on about the twelfth lap.
“Even with that problem, I think I could have still kept Liam behind but the Safety Car messed things up as it closed the field up and we lost out.
“It was the right call not to do race three and risk destroying the gearbox, but I think we can be happy with the way we’ve performed. We’ve shown we have the pace amongst the S2000 cars and were able to mix it with some of the NGTC cars as well, which is a good sign for the rest of the year.”
Shaun Hollamby was also pleased with the performance at the teams’ home circuit despite seeing the weekend come to a premature close.
“I’m really pleased with our performance,” Hollamby added. “Coming to Brands Hatch, the target was to challenge for S2000 honours so to take victory in the first race of the year was fantastic. It’s a shame that the gearbox issue prevented us from adding to it, but that’s the first gearbox issue we’ve had in three years so we can’t be too despondent.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with James, and I think the whole team has worked well this weekend. We’ve found a few things we can improve for Donington Park and I think we can go there in confident mood given it’s a circuit where the VW has always gone well in the past.”