Brands Hatch race pace puts Smith and Pyper on the front foot at Brands Hatch

Renault Aftersales Racing kicked off its 2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup season in style, with Árón Smith finishing fourth and team-mate Gavin Pyper netting seventh place in the opening clash at Brands Hatch in Kent.Both drivers enjoyed a strong qualifying session earlier in the day, the results of which put them in prime grid slots for the first race around the 1.19-mile ‘Indy’ Circuit. Pyper’s pace in his Aftersales-branded Clio 197 put him fourth on the grid, while Smith’s Renault Insurance-backed car lined up in eighth.The heavy rain that had blighted Brands Hatch for much of Friday subsided when the cars lined up for action this afternoon and, with the track drying, almost the entire field opted to use slick Michelin tyres for race one.Smith, who had a solid first season in the Aftersales squad last year, was immediately in the thick of the action and quickly forced his way up to fourth with a number of slick overtaking manoeuvres. He then set about challenging Phil Glew for third but was never quite close enough to set up a definitive passing opportunity.With the race red flagged seven laps early due to an incident near the back of the field, Smith had to settle for fourth place – a result that equalled his season-best performance during 2007.“The conditions weren’t great on what was a greasy track so my objective was to keep my driving smooth and concentrate hard on sticking with the leaders,” the young Irishman explained. “I was close to Phil on a number of occasions but didn’t really have the chance to make a decent move on him.“When you’re in that position, it’s very easy to do something rash and pick up some damage. I therefore kept things simple and tried not to lose my head. Fourth is a solid start to my season and I’m really confident in the car and my own ability. I’m expecting another good battle in tomorrow’s race.”Pyper meanwhile, lost his qualifying advantage after the first safety car period in the race and found it hard to recover in what proved to be a race that was punctuated by various incidents throughout the congested field.“I pushed a little too hard when the race got back underway for the first time and that meant I drifted wide and lost some ground,” the experienced Scotsman said. “I then overdrove slightly in a bid to recover and that didn’t really help things.”Today’s race was Pyper’s first taste of competitive action for some time but he said he took many positives out of his first race with the Renault Aftersales Racing squad.He added: “The result wasn’t brilliant today because I know I can do much better but I’m safe in the knowledge that I’ve got that little bit of over-eagerness out of my system and I’m excited about what tomorrow might bring.”Sunday’s second championship encounter gets underway at 13.30. Smith will start the 20-lap race from sixth place on the grid, while Pyper will line up in fourth.Results1 Paul Rivett        JHR Developments           17 laps @19m 37.9s2 Ben Winrow      Team Pyro                       +0.36s3 Phil Glew          Full Speed Racing             +1.51s4 Árón Smith     Aftersales Racing           +1.72s5 David Dickens   Mardi Gras                       +4.19s6 Robert Gaffney  EPS Racing                      +4.99s7 Gavin Pyper    Aftersales Racing           +5.25s8 Alex Dew          Solutions Racing               +5.37s9 Rob Boston       Double Six Racing             +6.03s10 Peter Felix       Team Valtra                      +8.59s