Árón Taylor-Smith bagged another strong haul of points – plus two Independent victories – on an action-packed day in the British Touring Car Championship at Croft.
Arriving at the 2.1-mile Yorkshire circuit with momentum on his side after ending the first half of the campaign on the overall podium at Oulton Park, Taylor-Smith immediately set about picking up where he and Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing left off.
In a hard-fought qualifying session, the Dubliner not only made it through to the coveted ‘Quick Six Shootout’ for the first time in 2024, but also put his Vauxhall Astra an impressive fourth on the grid, in the mix amongst the championship’s leading names for the opening race.
Sunday dawned, and with it a capacity trackside crowd, plus millions more watching live at home on ITV4, and in true Taylor-Smith fashion, the 34-year-old rose to the occasion. A lightning fast getaway in the opener put Taylor-Smith side-by-side in a battle for third spot with Ingram’s Hyundai on the run down to Clervaux. Trapped on the outside line, he was forced to concede, slotting into the queue.
Slight contact a lap later with Sutton forced Taylor-Smith to go off-line and cut the chicane for fear of a collision; etiquette dictated he give the place to the Ford, and Taylor-Smith duly obliged. From there, the Irishman held his own to score an credible fifth, and an 11th Independent win of the season.
On the slower, less-fancied Hard compound Goodyear tyre for the second race, Taylor-Smith used all of his experience, nous and race craft accumulated in over a decade of competition in the UK’s premier tin-top series to keep the chasing pack behind.
Having been shuffled back a couple of spots in a typically frantic start to the race, Taylor-Smith dug deep to keep not only race one winner Turkington at bay, but also a queue of cars on the quicker, softer tyre to take seventh – and another Independent win!
Having banked two strong outright points finishes, ‘Lady Luck’ then paid Taylor-Smith another visit, promoting him to second through the reverse grid draw for the finale. A steady getaway put Taylor-Smith second to Chilton’s Hyundai after the opening lap, before an optimistic move by his team-mate Ingram at the Jim Clark Esses forced both cars wide, and shuffled Taylor-Smith back down the order to tenth.
There he remained, until further contact at the end of the race left the Vauxhall with damage, forcing Taylor-Smith to limp it home over the line in P13 – albeit still another valuable haul of points.
The net result of all three races at Croft means Taylor-Smith now sits eighth in the overall championship standings, with a comfortable 21-point gap to team-mate Mikey Doble in the Independents Trophy. His efforts have also contributed in no small part to Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing holding a commanding 60-point lead in the Independent Teams’ Championship, with 18 of the 30 races completed. Knockhill, Fife, hosts the next three rounds of the 2024 BTCC season on 10-11 August.
Árón Taylor-Smith (#40) said:
“My over-riding emotion at the moment is just pride, because we’ve put together another really strong weekend. To qualify on the second row, and then back that up with some good points and another two Independent wins is just fantastic.
“A little bit of contact in that last race roughed us up and meant we couldn’t really take advantage of what the Vauxhall Astra was capable of, but it’s how things go in the BTCC sometimes.
“I can’t keep praising the whole team at Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing enough for the work they’ve done – and continue to do – with this car. Qualifying fourth and being amongst the front-runners was no fluke; it’s a genuine reflection of where we’ve gotten this package to, which is very exciting.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to roll out at Knockhill, another favourite circuit of mine, and aim for even bigger and better things next time around.”