Photo: PSP Images

Aron Taylor-Smith extends Power Maxed Racing stay

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Aron Taylor-Smith will remain with the Power Maxed Racing BTCC team for ‘2024 and beyond’ after signing an extended two-year deal with the Vauxhall squad.

The Irish driver joined the team for the 2023 campaign and scored two podium finishes during the season at Donington Park GP and Silverstone as well as four Independent class wins.

The 33-year-old had endured a rough run of form prior to joining up with Adam Weaver’s team and will now go into the new season aiming to fight for silverware.

“I’m so excited to confirm an extension to my partnership with CarStore Power Maxed Racing,” he said.

“It sounds terribly cliché, but I really do feel like I’ve found a home within the team. I’ve been in the paddock for ten years now, and I’ve spent much of that feeling like I was looking for a long-term home. I’ve found that now.

“Every successful driver-team combination on the BTCC grid has a high level of consistency to it; whether that’s drivers with engineers, staying in the same car, building a team around you.

“Overnight success doesn’t happen here, so if you want to be competitive, you need to find somewhere to create that environment around you.

“We’ve had such an amazing year at CarStore Power Maxed Racing and achieved almost every major objective we set ourselves. But – and this is the key bit – we did that with minimal testing, and if you look at our results, it’s quite clear it took me a few rounds to naturally ‘bed in’ and get to grips with the car, and where we needed to develop the package.

“I’m incredibly optimistic about what we can achieve with an extra four months versus last season to prepare.”

Taylor-Smith added that he felt there was still more to come from PMR’s Vauxhall Astra, which also took the Jack Sears Trophy this year with team-mate Andrew Watson.

“People talk about this being one of the oldest cars on the grid, but I’ve been around a bit and I can say confidently – it still has room to grow,” he said.

“I hope with the benefit of a proper winter programme and the longer-term vision that this deal gives us, we can begin to unlock that.

“I’m hugely grateful to Adam, Martin [Broadhurst] and everyone at the team for their backing, and to my fantastic partner network who continue to allow me to go racing.”