![Árón Taylor-Smith, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK [Speedworks Motorsport], Toyota Corolla GR Sport NGTC](https://www.touringcars.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Aron-Taylor-Smith-Toyota-1.jpg "Photo: Pat Cranham")
Toyota’s Árón Taylor-Smith was in an optimistic mood after qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park, after qualifying in 14th with a new engine installed in his Corolla.
The Irishman has switched from running the Neil Brown Engineering (NBE)-tuned Toyota engine, which Speedworks Motorsport has run since 2023, to an M-Sport TOCA engine for the final three events of the season, along with team-mate Gordon Shedden.
Taylor-Smith says the change has been about evaluating options ahead of the 2026 season, with the team able to undertake direct comparisons with the other Corollas powered by the NBE engine driven by Josh Cook and Max Buxton.
“Assessing the options for next year is good,” said Taylor-Smith to TouringCars.Net. “I feel like [the M Sport engine] suits my style a little better.
“This year is all about building; the engine package is something that we wanted to know about going into next year, and this was an easy way to answer that question.
“In the depths of the winter it’s hard to get a true gauge of that, so I’m happy with the direction we’re going in.
“You get an understanding of what it does – boost control, throttle response and everything like that. You get a bit more of an inkling of what actually is happening.
“I’ve had some great success with M Sport over the years, and they’re an incredible company to deal with, so I’m definitely happy with the decision.
“That’s not to say where we were previously [NBE] weren’t doing a great job, it probably just didn’t fall our way.”
Taylor-Smith took his Corolla to 14th in qualifying, giving him the second-best starting position for a Toyota driver after Shedden qualified in 12th with a time less than a tenth quicker.
The 35-year-old also lamented the loss of a lap time to an alleged track limits exceedance in the first part of qualifying, which he felt was legal and could have seen him progress into Q2.
“Today has shown a lot of progress. If you look at qualifying in particular, it was a tricky one for us, because the tyre choice was open for whatever you would use.
“Our carryovers were poor because we had picked up a couple of punctures [earlier in the season], so to be a tenth and a half off the quickest car, which was on four new softs, shows the progress the Toyota has made, especially over the last few weeks.
“The track limits side is a very grey area – it’s very difficult to police and I feel bad for the championship.
“Part of my tyre was still on the kerb, some part of it was suspended in the air, so unfortunately, it’s a very difficult decision to make. If it was a pressure sensor, I wouldn’t have triggered it.
“It’s a very difficult decision to make and I feel bad for the person watching the camera from a couple of hundred metres away.”
Having been the quickest Toyota driver in both practice sessions earlier on Saturday, Taylor-Smith remains confident for race day.
“This is probably the most confident I’ve been, just because we’ve been fast all day. We ran one new soft tyre all day and we’re still in the mix the whole time.
“Once it comes to race trim, I think we have a really good shot, because everyone’s on the same tyre and all of a sudden you’re in the mix and the fastest come to the front and I think we can do that.”