Aron Smith over the moon with podium finish

Aron Smith was over the moon to secure his first podium position with Team BKR in only his second race with the new outfit.

The former Team BMR driver, who has a two-year contract with his former team, effectively going out on loan to BKR, held his own in the ex-Colin Turkington Volkswagen CC and fought off a challenge from the Motorbase Performance duo of Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan to take third position.

“I’m delighted for all the guys, everyone here has worked so bloody hard, it’s really great to have bounced back,” Smith told TouringCarTimes. “I really can’t thank Warren Scott and everyone at Team BMR enough for helping me out here because it’s been a mad few weeks, a few sleepless nights to get everything in place and without Warren I wouldn’t be here so I’m over the moon.”

Having driven the CC for the past two seasons, Smith has knowledge of the car’s traits and is enjoying his role as team leader, thanks to his experiences with Team BMR.

“Familiarity is a great thing,” said Smith. “I know straight away if there’s something wrong instead of thinking “oh this is the car”, so it’s nice to be able to be the leader of the team and really get everything right.”

Although Smith is taking home silverware for his new team, he is still keeping an eye on what is happening in the Team BMR garage, and has no doubt that his former team will return to the sharp end of the field before the season is over.

“I’ve seen the work all the lads have put in in the worskshop for the Subarus and I do want to see them do well, I’d like to race them again. They’ll get there, this is their first run and I don’t expect them to be challenging for a few meetings but they’ll get there and they’ll come with a bang.”