MINI UK VIP Customer Team racer Rob Smith says he is hungry to make a deserved return to the MINI Challenge podium at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit this weekend.

The series, which forms part of the Kent venue’s annual ‘MINI Festival’, headlines the event’s packed schedule.

Rounds 11, 12 and 13 of the MINI Challenge campaign will undoubtedly provide spectacular door handle-to-door-handle racing on the short 1.2-mile track where Crewe-based driver Rob was a podium finisher last year.

Going into the fifth race meeting of 2016 the Evergreen Tyres, GroupTyre Ltd and BMTR supported racer is an unrepresentative seventh in the championship standings as a result of a series of gremlins and on-track dramas.

Last time out at Rockingham in Northamptonshire, a challenge for victory in the final race of the weekend went awry on the second lap when misfortune struck.

As a result of an excursion for then race leader and namesake Brett Smith, Rob’s No.37 MINI F56 was caught-up in the aftermath which led to radiator damage which forced him out of the race.

Another impactful factor on his season during the first half of the campaign was an issue with straight-line speed.

Thankfully, after major investigation of the engine, a bent valve was found to be the likely culprit and at Rockingham the car’s performance on the straights was much improved.

With the tight and twisty Brands Hatch Indy Circuit one where Rob has enjoyed good success in the past in MINIs and Renault Clios, he is aiming for his first silverware since the previous visit to Kent in May – when the series raced on the longer GP Circuit as support to the Blancpain Sprint Cup.

“I’m really hoping for a trouble-free weekend and some enjoyable racing”, said Rob.

“We had a productive day testing at Brands the other week, and we found a new direction in terms of set-up, so we’re hopeful that might help us claw back some points and challenge for top results.

“We’ve had some good races at Brands Indy, I climbed the podium there last year and in Clios we were strong too so it should be a good weekend if everything goes to plan.

"We’ve had plenty of misfortune this season with one thing and another. I’m hoping we can put that behind us now.”

For the high-profile MINI Festival weekend, in addition to his impressive portfolio of regular sponsors, Rob – who away from the track works for Bentley Cars as a Body and Trim Engineer – will welcome guests from GroupTyre Wholesale and MINI UK.

Qualifying for the headline JCW class of the MINI Challenge will take place at Brands Hatch tomorrow at 11.50am, with the first race of the weekend following at 4.35pm.

On Sunday, race two will commence around 2.30pm with the third contest set to begin at 5pm.