Árón Smith insisted he is focused on fighting for victories in tomorrow’s three British Touring Car Championship races at Snetterton, having secured second place in qualifying.
25 year-old Smith had enjoyed a long spell at the top of the timesheets after bettering team-mate Jason Plato’s early effort, only for fellow Team BMR driver Colin Turkington to snatch pole by 0.027s in the final quarter of the session.
But despite being narrowly shaded for pole, Smith said that he was pleased to have secured another front row start and was adamant that he could take the fight to his stablemates.
“It’s my third front row of the year,” he said to TouringCars.Net. “That’s half of the sessions this year where that’s been the case so I’m pretty happy with that fact.
“I thought I was going to have it; I set the exact same time twice which is heart breaking when you’re only a few thousandths off, we were unfortunate not to get that pole.
“What gives me a lot of confidence is that I set the same time twice so I know I’ll be strong tomorrow. We’ll work together as a team but I’m out to win.”
Smith’s season had started in similar fashion, with a second place on the grid at Brands Hatch, but his campaign has stalled somewhat since with the Irishman 11th in the championship standings.
But praising the efforts of his team, the Irishman said he was looking forward to a fresh start after the mid-season break, at the site of his first victory for the team last season.
“Credit to BMR to have three of the cars in the top three spots, I think it’s the first time in our history so I’m delighted,” he said. “I said after shakedown that the car feels brand new again so the last six weeks have been something else – they’ve made these cars top notch once again.
“The six week gap did me good to get some rest and to get away from the circus, so I’ve come back strong again, I’m looking for good results and I’m pretty confident I can get them.”