CREWE’S Rob Smith grabbed his first podium finish of the season after a successful weekend at Brands Hatch.

The 23-year-old came home third in the second race of the MINI Challenge event to bag his first silverware of the season and consolidate his position in the title race.

Smith finished fifth in the first race on Saturday to occupy the same position in the overall championship, but he said he was delighted with how the weekend went.

“It’s great to get our first podium of the year, especially at such a big event with a great crowd and lots of guests – it was important to do well,” he said.

“All in all, fifth and third is decent and we’ve taken a solid haul of points away.

“The pace is there, we can see that, and we’re starting to iron out any problems so hopefully we’ll be even stronger going forward.”

Smith started the second race from pole position but was hustled down the field, dropping as low as fifth before eventually fighting his way back to third.

He says the team already knows what areas to improve upon for the next race of the series, which takes place at Silverstone on May 28.

“We were confident we’d have a strong race car but I had a bit of a problem with the power steering pump overheating, which meant the steering went very heavy and you couldn’t trail brake without a lot of effort,” he said.

“We now know what to do, though, if it happens again and hopefully we’re getting the little things out of the way now so we can have a good run for the rest of the season – last year it was the other way round with a strong start and then some issues as the season went on.”