Aron Smith unimpressed with Snetterton driving standards

Aron Smith played his part in an historic one-two-three for Team BMR in Snetterton’s first race, but he was left bemoaning the driving standards which limited the rest of his weekend.

After qualifying and finishing a strong second to Colin Turkington in race one, any hopes of repeating the feat were quickly extinguished in race two after contact with several cars in the midfield.

Retirement with a broken rear toe followed, with a charge from the rear to 12th the reward for Smith’s efforts in the last race.

Reflecting on his weekend to TouringCarTimes, Smith said: “I’m very happy with race one. A one-two-three in qualifying for Team BMR and a one-two-three in race one, it’s a great result and I think it’s the first time in history someone’s done it in qualifying and then carried it through to the race.

“Race two I just got clouted five or six times by numerous drivers and eventually one of them hit me hard enough to break the rear toe.

“In the last race I came from the back as high as I could, and I was happy with my performance. In general, a good weekend and a good race one.”

Smith says the respect he has for the racing standards of his team-mates Jason Plato and Colin Turkington differs somewhat from how he feels about some other drivers on the grid.

“There’s nobody I prefer racing more than Jason and Colin. They’re just such professionals – silky smooth, silky clean. You can trust them. In race one and two, we ran side-by-side with both of them and not an inch of paint was touched,” said Smith.

“As soon as you try and go side-by-side with another car, it’s crash, bang, wallop and you’re off the track. They’re professionals and the others aren’t – you can see it from miles away.

“I don’t mind little nudges and bangs, but the thing I’ve noticed is you get a bang and nothing happens, so next time that nudge or bang is a little bit more. And then the next time, they put you straight in the wall.

“We just need to always qualify first, second and third because when it’s just our team, we have a brilliant time as BMR have prepared the best cars.”