Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith believes he can “do some serious damage” from his best ever qualifying of ninth position for race one of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park.
Smith performed well in qualifying at Brands Hatch, scoring 10th position, and continued this form on a damp-but-drying Donington Park circuit yesterday.
He told TouringCars.Net he was pleased to secure P9 and is hopeful of a solid points haul in the opening race of the day.
“At Brands [Hatch] we left maybe two tenths on the table so I was a little bit gutted with that,” said Smith. “Which is great to say when you qualified P10! But I felt like P5 was achievable.
“But to go one better here is great. I felt like I got the best out of the car in the first run, sort of struggled in the second to be honest, I didn’t quite get it hooked up when I felt like I could have improved.”
Smith believes he is capable of achieving his first ever top ten, stating he can do some ‘serious damage’ from his starting position.
“The way Donington is, the first couple of sectors dry quicker than the last sector,” explained Smith. “But then the red flag allowed the track to get wetter. So I was a couple of tenths up in sector two but then lost it in the last couple of sectors.”
“I’m fairly happy, we can do some serious damage there in race one, try to get a top ten, we’re in a good position to achieve that.”
With cold but dry conditions at the Leicestershire circuit this morning, Smith’s preference would be a fully wet or dry track.
“I feel like we’ve got such a strong car. Halfway through last year I think we really found what we were looking for. So that’s in wet or dry conditions. But in changing conditions it just promotes some people to the front.
“We’re fast in the wet and the dry. We’re okay in the mixed conditions – that’s where the driver has a bit more of an impact, so you see those with a bit more experience doing a better job. Wet or dry I’m happy, but in between – I’m not interested!”