Title challenger focused on podium in rounds five, six and seven
Smith confident of showcasing front-running pace in Norfolk
Snetterton 300 Circuit will host the resumption of the all-action MINI Challenge season next weekend, 27th/28th May, where Rob Smith is determined to return to the category podium and kick-start his title bid.
Heading to Norfolk seventh in the championship after a trying outing at Rockingham last time out, where his MINI F56 suffered major problems with tyre degradation in both races, the Crewe-based driver says his confidence is undiminished and he’s fully focused on showcasing his true pace.
Everything started well for Smith during the season curtain-raiser at Oulton Park over Easter weekend, the MINI UK VIP Customer Team driver securing a podium result and delivering searing fastest lap pace in round two – earning him the Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Weekend award.
At Rockingham three weeks ago, Smith again had the pace to run at the front and challenge for pole position and potential race wins. After being baulked in qualifying though, and then experiencing major tyre issues and sustaining contact in both contests, realistic hopes of silverware were dashed.
Now, the Evergreen Tyres, GroupTyre UK and BMTR supported racer is setting his sights high for the visit to Snetterton – the home event for Excelr8 Motorsport, the squad behind the MINI UK VIP Customer Team – and says pole position and a podium bid in the triple-header is the target.
“I’m confident we’re the quickest car and driver combination out there, we showed that at Oulton Park, we just haven’t had the luck with it yet”, said Smith, “We’re only 25% of the way through the season and if we take drop scores into account we can forget Rockingham ever happened. We’re still in with a really good shout of the championship.
“I do quite like Snetterton and I do think it will suit our package, there are medium to high speed corners which I like and there are some similarities to Oulton…and we know how well we performed there. It’ll be nice racing at the team’s home track, we’re definitely going there aiming to fight for pole and to take away some very strong results.”
Smith was scheduled to test at Snetterton this week but with the arrival of persistent and heavy rain, the decision was made to forego the early visit to Norfolk and instead look forward to the pre-event test day next Friday.
Qualifying for the third event of the MINI Challenge season will get underway at 11.05 on Saturday, 27th May, with race one of the weekend following at around 18.00.
Round six is scheduled to begin at 12.55 on Sunday, 28th May, with round seven starting at 17.15 – Sunday’s pair of contests are set to be screened live in the UK on free-to-air channel Front Runner.
2017 MINI Challenge Standings
7th Rob Smith, 119pts
