Pirelli-backed racing driver Rob Smith delivered a star performance at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 17th August, by scorching to an outstanding maiden victory in the third MINI Challenge UK encounter of the weekend – having battled through impressively from seventh on the grid.

Marking only his third ever appearance in the category, the penultimate race meeting of the 2014 campaign began strongly with the Telford 22-year-old posting the fourth fastest time in qualifying but unfortunate contact on the opening lap of race one led to retirement through damaged steering.

Determined to make amends in races two and three, the Excelr8 Motorsport driver secured a strong seventh place finish, from 15th on the grid, in the second encounter on Sunday morning before going on to cap-off the weekend with a stunning maiden win.

“I can’t believe I won that one starting where we did”, said an elated Rob immediately after race three, “I got a decent start, not amazing, but I got a good run into Becketts and then it all kicked off with a few of them. I got up to about fifth, timed everything right, and then a few things went our way. When I was into second behind Hamish [Brandon], I knew I’d have the pace on him to get by.

“After that, I was able to pull a gap as they started fighting behind and from there it was all quite comfortable. All in all I‘m very pleased, after the way this year has gone in the Clios [Renault UK Clio Cup] it’s great to turn it around and get the sort of result we’ve deserved. I’m pretty chuffed! Huge thanks to Pirelli and Excelr8 for their support, it’s fantastic to get the win.”

Race one on Saturday afternoon was, unfortunately, precisely the opening Rob didn’t want to his weekend when his top four start came to nothing on lap one after a mid-lap tangle. Qualifying little more than 0.2 seconds shy of the front row, hopes were justifiably high of a podium bid.

With a huge amount of work to do from the rear of the headline JCW Class in Sunday lunchtime’s second race, Rob starting in 15th place due to his non-finish the day before, he made a great getaway at the rolling start and gained three positions on an impressive opening lap.

Continuing his excellent progress on the second tour, he moved into the top 10 and then set about closing down the 1.6 second gap to the group of cars ahead. Grabbing ninth place on lap three, Rob then started to pressure for eighth at the tail of a very tight five-car train but he had to bide his time.

Still in ninth position going into the eighth and final lap, the Shropshire racer was just 0.2 seconds behind Mark Steward and managed to usurp his rival to seal a great recovery after Saturday’s dramas. Post-race, he was elevated into seventh place following a time penalty for Lawrence Davey.

Therefore starting race three from the head of the fourth row of the grid, Rob made a decent launch – this time from a standing start – and gained a couple of places at Becketts while avoiding any contact. Into lap two, only 1.3 seconds separated the lead train of five cars and as a couple of his rivals got too close for comfort Rob gladly nipped through into third and then second place.

Piling on the pressure to Hamish Brandon into lap three, Rob quickly moved to the front with a great pass mid-lap and then pulled clear over the remaining five laps to an eventual winning margin of 2.6 seconds – having been almost four seconds to the good going into the final tour. He only just missed out on the fastest lap of the race too by a mere five hundredths of a second.

Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent will host the final three races of the MINI Challenge UK season over the weekend 13th/14th September.