CREWE driver Rob Smith had a memorable weekend at Brands Hatch as he secured a double podium finish in the latest round of the MINI Challenge.

The 24-year-old competed in three races over the weekend and made an improvement in each one after finishing fourth in the first contest on Saturday, narrowly missing out on a podium place.

He came third in his next outing on Sunday, with his best lap falling just 0.2 secs short of being the fastest of the race, before a time penalty for teammate and overall standings leader Charlie Butler-Henderson elevated him to second in the final race of the weekend after he had initially come home third.

The MINI UK VIP Customer team driver expressed his delight and relief with the weekend’s results, which see him sitting in seventh place in the standings ahead of another extended break from racing.

“It’s been a long wait!” he joked.

“It’s all been spot on to be honest and it’s good who we’ve beaten – we finished ahead of a lot of the guys above me in the championship so that should bring us back into contention for a possible top three at the end of the year.

“The car has been fantastic this weekend, since we got the problems sorted at Rockingham we’ve been able to work on proper changes to the set-up instead of working around the issues we’d been having up to then.

“We found some massive improvements, found some time on the new tyres in qualifying and how to look after them a bit better too.

“We aim to continue this momentum now.”

Although his position in the overall standings did not improve, Smith is now only 69 points behind third-placed David Grady as he hunts a top-three finish.

He faces a long break now before the MINI Challenge moves on to Oulton Park, where all three races will take place in one day on Saturday, August 20.