THAT beaming winning smile has returned for Michael Keohane, who won the Masters category in Sunday's Porsche Carrera Cup GB meeting at Brands Hatch.

It’s the first time since May 12th, 2003 that the Ballygurteen driver stood on the podium. On that occasion, racing in the British Formula 3 (Round 8) Championship at Knockhill in Scotland with the Promatecme team, he stood alongside race winner Nelson Piquet Junior (Piquet Sports) and second-placed Jamie Green (Carlin Motorsport).

Last Sunday afternoon, he stood on the top step after notching up his first win in the Masters category in the Century Motorsport-run Porsche Carrera.

Time didn't diminish the smile, but it was hard earned and demanded patience and resilience after his retirement from the opening race at the Kent venue.

Qualifying P1 for both races during Saturday's sessions, the lap times illustrated the intensity of the racing where the respective margins covering the entire grid were 0.421s and 1.075s respectively. Keohane was only 0.406 and 0.505 behind the drivers that were on pole in the Pro class.

Anticipation ahead of the morning's first race was high, but that soon dissipated with an unfortunate incident towards the end of the warm-up lap. Like the others, he was getting heat into the tyres, swerving from one side to the other; he accidentally and unknowingly touched the ABS switch that blanked out the dash readout. Unfortunately, the Keohane Readymix-liveried Porsche was in second gear when the race started and, once put into motion, the clutch was damaged and led to his retirement.

‘Sadly, there was a bit of an issue on the warm-up lap with the ABS and it blocked out what he could see on the dash, so he started the race in second gear, and these clutches are great, but only when they're inside their window,’ team boss Nathan Freke explained.

‘If you operate them outside their window, they turn to dust pretty quickly, and that's sadly what happened. So the lads cracked on, they got the clutch changed within an hour, and the car was working again for the second race.'

Michael Keohane in action. (Photo: Martin Walsh)

No doubt, there was immense pressure on the Ballygurteen driver to finish the second race. To his credit, his response was perfect. He delivered a fine victory over his Century Motorsport team-mate, Carl Cavers, who took the Masters victory in the first race.

Leading the category from the start, Keohane certainly couldn't take any risks in trying to overtake any of the Pro or ProAm category drivers that could jeopardise the situation.

‘It's great to get the monkey off my back after three non-finishes,’ Keohane said.

‘The pace was very quick and I was more than happy with my own pace. Brands Hatch is quite a narrow track and not that many opportunities to overtake and the Porsche is a big car in that respect.

‘After the non-finishes I knew I needed to win this one. I overtook when it was absolutely 100 per cent safe to do so. Actually, soon after I passed Oliver Meadows I thought I had a puncture but it was just marbles (small, discarded pieces of rubber) on the track.

‘The support I had here was great again, it makes the win that much sweeter. Sure, it's always good to win.’

Michael Keohane celebrates his first victory in the Master's category of the Porsche Carwow Carrera Cup GB series at Brands Hatch with family and friends. (Photo: Martin Walsh)

An equally delighted Nathan Freke said, 'It's been a difficult start to the season for Michael and from a team owner's perspective, to have a new driver not finish the first three races, it's a nervous time.

‘Obviously, we want our drivers to enjoy it, and we want them to finish and it was super important for Michael just to see the chequered flag. We know that if he gets a good clean race, he's going to be in the hunt to win.

‘I think he was fairly reserved on the first couple of laps. Quite rightly so, because he didn't want to put himself in any situations that might result in a bit of contact here or there.

‘He had a really good clean race, his times were excellent and he brought the car home, so we're super ecstatic for him to get that result.

‘And it was nice to see him smiling in parc fermé because it means a lot to the team and it means a lot to the drivers and it's just good to see it. It just kind of got to a point, I guess, where it was like, let's just focus on our own thing in this race and just chalk a result up. And that's what we did.'