Sean claims long-awaited first race win of the season

Marlow racing driver Sean Smith claimed a longawaited first win of the season in the Legends Car National Championships this weekend, and also scooped the Masters Class title. Smith, who runs the

Reliance Autotest in High Wycombe, has put in some solid performances through the season but surprisingly, hadn’t won a race until he took to the circuit at Brands Hatch.

Having been unable to race last season, a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and complications following an unfortunate accident at the beginning of the year, Smith was back on the grid for the 2021 season and, following his superb race win in round 15, heat one on Saturday, also claimed the Masters Class Champion – lifting the Gerard McCosh Napoleon Award.

Smith followed up his popular victory in race one with an eighth placed finish in the second race. Frustratingly he was then forced to retire from the round of 15 final. On Sunday he was cruelly robbed of a second victory in heat two, his car losing speed with just a couple of laps to go. In the final he returned to the podium after finishing third, just 0.4 seconds shy of the winner.

Reflecting on the race weekend and the season, Smith said: “It’s been a long year; this win has been a long time coming! It’s taken us all season to get back to where we were in 2019 before my big accident. We should have had two wins this weekend, gutting the engine blew on the last lap in race two today [Sunday], but we’re still happy with how it’s all gone. Matt [Roach] has done a great job with the car and worked very hard. We’re aiming to be challenging for that top three again next year and, hopefully, the championship.”

The provisional placings for the Legends Cars National Championships sees Smith in fifth place on 5755 points, with Miles Rudman taking the championship with 8070 points.