Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith was happy he managed to secure his maiden British Touring Car Championship podium after he started race one at Brands Hatch from pole position.
Smith initially got a good launch to lead the way into turn one from front row starter Dan Cammish, before losing out at Clearways later that lap after a slide through Stirlings cost him time.
He told TouringCars.Net that he struggled to sleep last night as he was thinking about his start from pole, but was glad he managed to retain the lead into Paddock Hill Bend.
“To be honest with you, I woke up at about half one this morning, started dreaming, basically having a nightmare about it because it was all going wrong!
“In my dream I stalled on the start and got nowhere! So I didn’t go back to sleep – I think that actually worked in my favour because I wasn’t as aware of what was going on, so I just got on with it basically!
“I was as calm as I possibly could have been. I got a good start – normally in P1 you do not get a good start here because it’s in the bowl, you’re going uphill straight away, and if you watch my onboard I’m left hand down just to make sure I don’t start drifting into the wall.”
After starting to build a gap on the opening lap to the chasing Dan Cammish, Smith then lamented locking the rears into the left hander at Stirlings as his rear tyres lacked temperature.
“Thankfully it’s a short run to turn one, I held the inside,” said Smith. “Then for whatever reason I pulled like half a second gap, then I got a little bit too brave into Stirlings.
“I locked the rears going into there, and that meant I was chasing that through there, and Cammish got the run on the outside.
“Because my rears still weren’t in and his were, he got he cutback and he was gone. I went with him, and stayed with him for a good five or six laps.”
As Cammish held onto the lead, his Halfords Yuasa Racing teammate Matt Neal closed in on Smith after eclipsing his Eurotech teammate Jack Goff in a Honda top-four.
Due to the rate at which Neal closed in on Smith, the latter elected to let the triple champion through to focus on claiming a maiden podium.
“Matt [Neal] was just coming like a steam train, he was like half a second to three quarters of a second quicker than me,” Smith explained.
“I could see that his fronts were in, so I thought there’s no point defending from him. I’ve got my teammate on the mediums and I know they’re going to be quick towards the end.
“I know he’s only got a minimal amount of ballast onboard so he’s going to stay that strong for longer. I just let him [Matt] by into Paddock, and it meant I only had to defend from Jack for the last three or four laps with a car that was a little bit stronger, rather than keeping myself compromised for seven or eight laps if I’d battled with Matt.
“Matt was going to come past anyway – it was inevitable – I just let him by because it wasn’t worth it. It’s great to have four Hondas in the top four, shame that [Dan] Lloyd couldn’t join us!”
With teammate Goff on the medium tyre coming on strong towards the end of the 15-lap contest, Smith admitted he was concerned but knew Goff would not make any rash manoeuvres.
“I think Jack is on the same front bumper as what he started the year with, so although he does make overtakes, but he’s incredibly clean with them,” he said.
“With me being his teammate, he knows that was my first chance at a podium, so I knew his wasn’t going to do anything stupid.
“Unless the overtake was 100% done, he wouldn’t have gone for it. He put his nose in just to try to put me off, but through the fast stuff my soft tyre just held on.
“He just couldn’t get the run on me for through the slower stuff.”