Brett Smith aiming for top 15 finishes on BTCC debut

Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith says he’s aiming to break into the top 15 on his British Touring Car Championship debut at Snetterton, describing the series as “mega” but admitting he was slightly disappointed with his qualifying performance.

MINI Challenge leader Smith is deputising for injured dad Jeff in the Honda Civic Type-R and showed solid pace on his first day in the series, culminating with P23 on the grid in qualifying.

The 25-year-old is carrying 45kg of new entry ballast on his Civic and is confident that without that extra weight, he would be knocking on the door of the top 10.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Smith said: “In touring cars if you find half a tenth, that’s one full row. If you find two tenths you go from P22 to P15, which was the aim for the start of qualifying.

“I’ve got 45kg on board and the team are quite happy that I’d have been just outside the top 10 if I didn’t have that in the car. It’s good, but I was under no illusions about how difficult it was going to be.

“[Gordon] Shedden is P20 carrying ballast, which shows you just how much it hurts, and he’s been in that car longer than Jack has. Jack’s got no ballast and has done an amazing job, but it shows how much it does hurt.”

Looking ahead to today’s races, Smith is hoping to quickly shed the extra weight and make forward progress.

He said: “For race one I’ve still got the 45kg and I’m not overly happy with my qualifying effort, so hopefully I can make a couple of places and get in the top 20.

“Then I get the weight off the car and try in race two and three to get into the top 15 – that’s the aim.”

Speaking about his experience in the BTCC so far, Smith added: “It’s mega. Surprisingly the Mini has stood me in quite good stead as it’s a similar sort of car – everything is just ramped up a bit.

“I’m enjoying it, but I’m the same as any racing driver – if you’re not winning, you’re not happy! And in touring cars that’s extremely different.”