Total Control Racings Rob Smith cant wait to get back behind the wheel of his Renault UK Clio Cup car little over a week from now when rounds three and four of the season take place at his adopted home circuit, Donington Park in Leicestershire, on 20th/21st April.Currently based in Loughborough, where he is studying for a degree in Automotive Materials, the 20-year-old will have a lot of local support during the second event of the campaign and hes hoping to celebrate with two top results having got the championship off to a fantastic start 10 days ago.Posting a career-best sixth place in round two at Brands Hatch in front of the live ITV cameras, the Goodride Performance Tyres, Grouptyre and BMTR-backed racer also took a hard-earned ninth place finish in the opening race to depart the Kent venue an excellent joint-seventh in the standings.Robs aim now is to continue his rise up the pecking order and edge ever closer to a maiden Renault UK Clio Cup podium finish. With Donington Parks National Circuit a track he thoroughly enjoys, and with boosted confidence after such strong Brands Hatch performances, hes bidding to battle at the sharp end once again next weekend.Brands was definitely the start to the season we wanted, taking my best ever finish and keeping someone as quick and experienced as Stef [Hodgetts] behind me was great, said the Telford racer, If we can qualify on the first couple of rows at Donington I really think we can fight for the podium, we just need to get a solid test in beforehand and get the set-up spot on.

Itll be an important weekend for us, BMTR will have a lot of guests there and it's obviously a local event for me, what with me being just down the road at Loughborough Uni, so hopefully we can have two really strong results and keep the great momentum going.Although officially timed pre-event testing for the second race meeting of the season takes place at Donington next Thursday, 18th April, Rob and the majority of his Clio Cup rivals had a run at Thruxton in Hampshire this weekthe venue for the fifth and sixth rounds of the season.

Rain during both sessions was a big factor during the outing on Tuesday, 9th April, meaning any serious running was limited. Even so the day still offered useful time in the car and some experience of the fastest track on the championship calendar, a circuit at which testing is heavily restricted. Rob ended up ninth quickest overall on combined times, despite a less than straightforward day.In the first session we ran wets and stayed on them a bit longer than everyone else, he explained, When we got out on the slicks, as soon as we'd got them up to temperature we had fuel surge so we had to pit and refuel and I only had one lap then to do a time with.Then the start of the second session was delayed as there was carnage in the previous Ginetta session, so instead of getting maybe 20 or 25 minutes in the dry we only had 10 minutes before it rained again. It was difficult to get any proper work done, but it was still a useful day on track.Qualifying for rounds three and four of the 2013 Renault UK Clio Cup is scheduled to take place at 11.20 on Saturday, 20th April, with the first race of the weekend getting underway at 17.05. Round four, which will be screened live on ITV4 and ITV4 HD and streamed live on the itv.com/btcc website, will start at 13.35.Provisional 2013 Renault UK Clio Cup Driver Standings (after Rd2):1st James Colburn, 57pts; =7th Rob Smith & Jake Giddings, 30pts

Provisional 2013 Renault UK Clio Cup Graduate Cup Standings (after Rd2):1st James Colburn, 64pts; 5th Rob Smith, 40pts