Carrick's Smiley rues '˜hectic' British Touring Car debut

Smiley, fresh from testing at Brands the previous weekend, was in a buoyant mood heading into his first race weekend as a BTCC driver, however, a combination of technical gremlins and contact with other cars left Smiley feeling that there was more to come, with the Carrick man declaring, “It was a very hectic and unlucky day with two first lap incidents at Druids!”

The former Mini champion was delighted after recording a 24th place finish in his debut race event, making up three places from his qualifying position the previous day. The first lap contact at Druids meant that he was pushed down the order, but he used to talent to remain out of trouble for the rest of the race with a race finish the priority.