Árón Taylor-Smith | |
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Taylor-Smith at the Donington Park round of the 2012 British Touring Car Championship season.
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Nationality | Irish |
Born | Árón Smith 9 November 1989 Dublin, Republic of Ireland |
Related to | Gavin Smith (brother) |
British Touring Car Championship career | |
Debut season | 2011 |
Current team | MG RCIB Insurance Racing |
Car no. | 40 |
Former teams |
Team BKR Team BMR RCIB Insurance Airwaves Racing Triple 8 Race Engineering |
Starts | 163 |
Wins | 4 |
Poles | 1 |
Fastest laps | 3 |
Best finish | 8th in 2012 |
Previous series | |
2010 2007–09, 2011 |
Renault Clio Cup Italia Renault Clio Cup UK |
Árón Taylor-Smith (né Smith; born 9 November 1989) is an Irish racing driver currently racing in the British Touring Car Championship. He is the younger brother of former VX Racing BTCC driver Gavin Smith.
Born in Dublin, Taylor-Smith began his racing career in karting in 2004 at various tracks around Ireland such as Mondello Park and Athboy, he was the 2005 JICA Irish Kart Club Champion. He followed this up by becoming the Irish Open Kart Champion in 2006.
He made the move into cars for the 2007 season by entering the Renault Clio Cup which runs on the British Touring Car Championship support package. Driving for Mardi Gras Motorsport, he finished his debut season placed 13th in the championship with a best result of 4th at Thruxton.
Taylor-Smith stayed with the team for 2008 finishing 9th. He also contested the 2008 Renault Clio Winter Cup with Team Pyro where he took his first Clio Cup pole position in the first race at Croft, followed by his first win in the same race. He won the four-race championship ahead of Phil House and future BTCC and WTCC driver Alex MacDowall. He raced with Team Pyro for the 2009 season. Once again he improved, finishing fourth in the championship having achieved three podiums including a win.
He switched to the Clio Cup Italia for 2010, finishing the season 4th overall with two wins and two pole positions. 2011 saw Taylor-Smith return to the UK championship with Team Pyro. He finished joint second to Paul Rivett in the championship after a close title decider at Brands Hatch.
Taylor-Smith made his BTCC debut for Triple 8 Race Engineering at the Knockhill round of the 2011 British Touring Car Championship. He picked up a single point on his debut after finishing in 10th place. This was to be a one-off appearance as the Renault Clio Cup rejoined the package at Rockingham.