Rob Smith just missed out on a pair of top-10 finishes as the Renault UK Clio Cup returned at Snetterton.
The Total Control Racing driver looked set for a season-best qualifying result, sitting inside the top five at the start of the session, although could not find the pace after the tyre-change pit stop, eventually having to settle for 13th on the grid.
Round 11 began well for Smith, moving in to the top 10 by lap four while fending off multiple Clio Cup race winner Stefan Hodgetts. The battle came to an end on lap six, however, with a steering failure causing Hodgetts to make contact with Smith’s car. Smith recovered to 17th position overall and a long way off the lead pack.
Round 12 saw a much better start for the TCR driver, moving up to seventh from 12th on the grid before slipping back down to twelfth after trying to move further up the field on lap two.
“I got a really good start, a good first lap, and I was a bit more aggressive than I was in the first race which was working well”, explained Smith. “I just made sure I was in the gaps I needed to be and then also making gaps too, it was all going alright.
“We got up to seventh but then it all kicked-off in front of us. I got a massive run on [Josh] Wakefield and had a choice of either pushing him all the way up the start/finish straight, as I was going that much faster than him, or going outside at the first corner. I went outside and it didn’t work, I don’t know whether I was over-working the diff but I lost some revs and a few people just shot by.”
