A POSITIVE 24 HOUR OF LE MANS FOR GRIFFIN

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Irish GT driver Matt Griffin ended the iconic Le Mans 24 hours race on a positive note last weekend claiming the lead of the World Endurance Championship.

Driving the strikingly liveried Ferrari 488 GTE with Singapore based Clearwater Racing team, Griffin with teammates Mok Weng Sunn and Keita Sawa ended the race 5th in GTEam class, there were only a few small issues that held the trio back from a podium finish.

Contact in the night for Kieta Sawa resulted in some damage to the car as well as a puncture loosing the team over two laps. A slight gearbox issue towards the end of the race meant that Griffin had to hold on to the current place rather than fight for a podium.

“Le Mans is a race where finishing really is the main goal, in saying that missing out on the podium does sting a little as we had speed to get there. The level is so high that to make the podium you need a 100% faultless run and we didn’t have that this year,” Matt explained.

Although no podium finish, the Cork based Irishman and teammates now have a large point lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) of which there are 9 races left to go. The next being at the Nurburgring in Germany followed by races in Mexico, the USA, Japan, China and Bahrain.

“Le Mans is a very important race in the WEC as it’s a double points race. By finishing 5th we beat all the other WEC competition so we took home the maximum 50 points. Before the race this was definitely one of our aims. There is still a long way to go in the championship, but for sure at the moment we are in a great position.“

Griffin will be back in action in Spa, Belgium for the British GT Championship on 8th July 2017 where he and team mate Duncan Cameron will look to improve their 3rd position in the British GT championship.

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