Árón Smith

Árón Smith

Nationality  Irish
Born November 9, 1989
Dublin (Ireland)
Related to Gavin Smith (brother)
British Touring Car Championship career
Debut season 2011
Current team Team BMR
Car no. 40
Former teams Airwaves Racing
Triple 8 Race Engineering
Starts 98
Wins 3
Poles 0
Fastest laps 2
Best finish 8th in 2012
Previous series
2010
2007–09, 11		 Renault Clio Cup Italia
Renault Clio Cup UK

Árón Smith (born 9 November 1989) is an Irish racing driver currently racing in the British Touring Car Championship. He is the younger brother of former VX Racing BTCC driver Gavin Smith.

Racing career

Karting

Born in Dublin, Smith began his racing career in karting in 2004, he was the 2005 JICA Irish Kart Club Champion. He followed this up by becoming the Champion of the Irish Open Kart Championship in 2006.

Renault Clio Cup

He made the move into cars for the 2007 season by entering the Renault Clio Cup which runs on the British Touring Car Championship support package. Driving for Mardi Gras Motorsport, he finished his debut season placed 13th in the championship with a best result of 4th at Thruxton.

Smith stayed with the team for 2008 finishing 9th. He also contested the 2008 Renault Clio Winter Cup with Team Pyro where he took his first Clio Cup pole position in the first race at Croft, followed by his first win in the same race. He won the four-race championship ahead of Phil House and future BTCC and WTCC driver Alex MacDowall. He raced with Team Pyro for the 2009 season. Once again he improved, finishing fourth in the championship having achieved three podiums including a win.

He switched to the Clio Cup Italia for 2010, finishing the season 4th overall with two wins and two pole positions. 2011 saw Smith return to the UK championship with Team Pyro. He finished joint second to Paul Rivett in the championship after a close title decider at Brands Hatch.[1]

British Touring Car Championship

Triple 8 Race Engineering (2011)

Smith made his BTCC debut for Triple 8 Race Engineering at the Knockhill round of the 2011 British Touring Car Championship season.[2] He picked up a single point on his debut after finishing in 10th place. This was to be a one-off appearance as the Renault Clio Cup rejoined the TOCA package at Rockingham.[3]

Motorbase Performance (2012–2013)

Smith driving for Redstone Racing at Donington Park in the 2012 British Touring Car Championship season.

In 2012 raced for Redstone Racing in one of their NGTC engined Ford Focus STs.[4] His team mates were Mat Jackson and Liam Griffin. In the season opening race at Brands Hatch, the bumper of his car was memorably pulled off by a recovery vehicle as it was towed out of a gravel trap. In June 2012 he demonstrated his Ford Focus ST BTCC car on the streets of Dublin during the Bavaria City Racing Festival in front of an estimated 110,000 fans.[5] He came close to a podium finish at Knockhill and led at Rockingham until a safety car allowed his rivals to catch him. Smith finally took his first podium finish at Silverstone by finishing third in the first race. He took his first win at the final event of the year at Brands Hatch, crossing the line ahead of champion Gordon Shedden in race two.

Smith stayed with Motorbase for 2013, now driving a full NGTC specification Ford Focus ST as raced by Jackson in the second half of the 2012 season.[6] He led Jackson in the standings for the much of the season but ended the year 9th, one place behind Jackson.

Team BMR (2014–)

Smith moved to Team BMR for the 2014 season, driving a Volkswagen CC alongside former champion Alain Menu.[7]

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points
2011 Triple 8 Race Engineering Vauxhall Vectra BRH
1		 BRH
2		 BRH
3		 DON
1		 DON
2		 DON
3		 THR
1		 THR
2		 THR
3		 OUL
1		 OUL
2		 OUL
3		 CRO
1		 CRO
2		 CRO
3		 SNE
1		 SNE
2		 SNE
3		 KNO
1
10		 KNO
2
13		 KNO
3
Ret		 ROC
1		 ROC
2		 ROC
3		 BRH
1		 BRH
2		 BRH
3		 SIL
1		 SIL
2		 SIL
3		 24th 1
2012 Redstone Racing Ford Focus ST Mk. II BRH
1
Ret		 BRH
2
Ret		 BRH
3
8		 DON
1
8		 DON
2
9		 DON
3
11		 THR
1
7		 THR
2
8		 THR
3
15		 OUL
1
Ret		 OUL
2
16		 OUL
3
Ret		 CRO
1
10		 CRO
2
Ret		 CRO
3
Ret		 SNE
1
14		 SNE
2
10		 SNE
3
6		 KNO
1
4		 KNO
2
6		 KNO
3
8		 ROC
1
Ret		 ROC
2
6		 ROC
3
5*		 SIL
1
3		 SIL
2
4		 SIL
3
9		 BRH
1
4		 BRH
2
1*		 BRH
3
5		 8th 204
2013 Airwaves Racing Ford Focus ST Mk. III BRH
1
9		 BRH
2
Ret		 BRH
3
11		 DON
1
11		 DON
2
8		 DON
3
7		 THR
1
9		 THR
2
10		 THR
3
5		 OUL
1
Ret		 OUL
2
14		 OUL
3
10		 CRO
1
14		 CRO
2
12		 CRO
3
9		 SNE
1
6		 SNE
2
3		 SNE
3
3		 KNO
1
10		 KNO
2
Ret		 KNO
3
15		 ROC
1
13		 ROC
2
15		 ROC
3
14		 SIL
1
8		 SIL
2
3		 SIL
3
2		 BRH
1
10		 BRH
2
5		 BRH
3
5		 9th 201
2014 CHROME Edition Restart Racing Volkswagen CC BRH
1
7		 BRH
2
13		 BRH
3
Ret		 DON
1
9		 DON
2
8		 DON
3
11		 THR
1
22		 THR
2
14		 THR
3
7		 OUL
1
12		 OUL
2
8		 OUL
3
1*		 CRO
1
23		 CRO
2
14		 CRO
3
9		 SNE
1
6		 SNE
2
8		 SNE
3
1*		 KNO
1
8		 KNO
2
Ret		 KNO
3
Ret		 ROC
1
20		 ROC
2
17		 ROC
3
12		 SIL
1
6		 SIL
2
5		 SIL
3
2		 BRH
1
11		 BRH
2
7		 BRH
3
5		 9th 201
2015 Team BMR Volkswagen CC BRH
1
2		 BRH
2
12		 BRH
3
3		 DON
1
DNS		 DON
2
12		 DON
3
6		 THR
1
 THR
2
 THR
3
 OUL
1
 OUL
2
 OUL
3
 CRO
1
 CRO
2
 CRO
3
 SNE
1
 SNE
2
 SNE
3
 KNO
1
 KNO
2
 KNO
3
 ROC
1
 ROC
2
 ROC
3
 SIL
1
 SIL
2
 SIL
3
 BRH
1
 BRH
2
 BRH
3
 9th* 50*

* Season in progress.

References

  1. ↑ Rampant Rivett nails third Clio Cup title, Renaultsport.
  2. ↑ Aron Smith to make BTCC debut with Triple Eight, TouringCarTimes.
  3. ↑ Triple Eight down to one car for Rockingham, TouringCarTimes.
  4. ↑ Smith joins Motorbase line-up, Autosport.
  5. ↑ "Smith wows city centre crowds". BTCC.net. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Jackson and Smith return". British Touring Car Championship (TOCA). 13 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  7. ↑ Turner, Kevin (27 January 2014). "Alain Menu to drive Team BMR Volkswagen Passat CC in 2014 BTCC". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 27 January 2014.

External links