ROB Smith endured a frustrating finale to the MINI Challenge UK series campaign at Snetterton.

The Nantwich racer changed the gearbox twice in his JCW machine, ending any hopes he had of standing on the podium.

Arriving back at the Norfolk circuit fresh from a promising showing in his maiden Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship test the previous week, he had hoped to add to his tally of four previous top-three finishes during 2016.

Requiring an initial switch of gearbox pre-event after his original unit failed, the ‘last resort’ replacement didn’t deliver much in the way of improvement for the Bentley Cars worker as he qualified 11th.

Making a good start from the sixth row of the grid in race one on Saturday, the 24-year-old gained two places on the opening tour and he remained in ninth place for the first couple of laps.

Set to challenge for eighth place, the car ahead went wide to leave Rob room only for him to pushed onto the grass by a rival.

He dropped to 15th, eventually battling back to 12th.

Two races were timetabled for Sunday, but the weather had other plans in rural Norfolk and thick fog blanketed the circuit.

After the second was cancelled, the day’s final sprint started later.

Prior to the start, the MINI UK VIP Customer Team mechanics fitted another gearbox to his No.37 MINI JCW in an effort to eradicate the issues.

Worsening weather, though, meant the final sprint – already reduced in time – was limited to a single lap.

Officials opted to begin the contest behind the safety car with the fog, which caused so many delays during the day, moving back in over the track.

After four laps under caution, green flags were waved and Rob held an improved 11th place due to one driver coming to grief.

Racing did get underway on the fifth tour but the chequered flag was waved at the end of lap – Rob coming home in 10th spot.

“It wasn’t the end to the season we wanted, but it’s how this year has been unfortunately”, said the series’ front-runner.

“After the gearbox failure on Friday, we had to fit a last option spare to the car but it had no pre-load so I was getting wheel-spin in qualifying – we had no traction in the middle sector and couldn’t get a time as a result, I lost the benefit of the tyres.

“I had a good first lap in race one and when I was about to challenge for eighth, and get onto the back of the group ahead, a car went wide so I left them space but I was then put onto the grass from someone behind.

“We fitted another gearbox for race two, the diff was a lot better, but it wasn’t really a race in the end with the Safety Car and early finish.”

He added: “Now we’ll be working on the sponsorship over the winter for next year and 2018. The main plan is to be back in the MINI Challenge and to fight for the championship, I really want that on my CV before we try and move into touring cars, but we’ll see what happens.”