Chris Smiley, Aron Taylor-Smith blame each other for race one incident

Chris Smiley and Aron Taylor-Smith have blamed each other for the incident that caused the opening BTCC race of the weekend at Silverstone to be red-flagged.

Contact between the pair exiting Copse saw Taylor-Smith’s MG spear into the side of Rob Collard’s BMW, which then continued out of control onto the grass at Maggotts.

Failing to lose any speed on the damp grass, Collard’s BMW came back onto the circuit on the exit of Becketts where it was collected by the VW of Will Burns and team-mate Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek-backed BMW.

Having initially continued behind the Safety Car, the race was then halted to allow Burns to receive treatment trackside.

Burns and Collard will take no further part in the race weekend, with Smiley and Taylor-Smith blaming each other for the initial contact that then triggered the secondary incident.

“Going through Copse, Aron ran wide on the damp and he must have seen me coming and has come across to try and force me off the track,” Smiley said. “You can see the damage on the car where he’s put me on the grass and he’s then ended up going back into the BMW.”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Taylor-Smith countered, “and I think he needs to improve his spacial awareness. Collard and Cole had run wide going through the corner, so I backed off to avoid hitting them as they came back on so there wasn’t a big accident. Smiley has kept it nailed and just run into me, which has meant I’ve then hit the BMW.

“You have to look ahead and see what is happening, and instead he’s caused an accident that has ruined the weekend for three or four drivers. I’ve seen it so many times this season; it’s appalling driving.”