First year AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK driver Rob Smith made a long awaited return to the top ten with an excellent drive at Rockingham.
After putting himself on the back-foot in qualifying with just the 17th fastest time for both races, the 20 year old was able to make good progress in the races.
Lining up 19th due to a two place penalty from the previous event, the opening race saw Smith produce his best performance since the opening weekend of the season, taking his Goodride Performance Tyres, Grouptyre and B.A.B Distribution-backed, Total Control Racing-run Clio through to tenth. The second race didn’t prove as fruitful, Smith only able to move up to fifteenth in tough wet conditions.
“It’s great to be back in the top 10 again, I’m pleased with that”, said Rob, “Everything was much better than in qualifying, the car was a bit twitchy through the quick stuff but the chicane felt much better which is where I had problems on Saturday losing about half a second. We had a hard battle ahead starting 19th but to come through into the top 10 was good and exactly what we needed.”