CREWE driver Rob Smith will hope the familiar surroundings of home track Oulton Park will fire him into the top three of the MINI Challenge UK standings.

Smith currently sits sixth in the standings but is only 14 points behind the third-placed driver, but that gap reduces to just one when drop scores are taken away.

With that in mind, Smith is confident he can even finish as high as second, but says a good weekend at the Cheshire circuit is pivotal if that is to happen.

“It’s great to be back at Oulton, I love the track and have always gone well there in whatever I’ve raced,” the 24-year-old said.

“On drop scores we’re only a point outside third in the championship and I think P2 is still on the cards by the end of the year.

“We need to keep up the recent form in qualifying and in the first race, then focus on making it count in race two as well.

“There are only three people I need to beat to make that happen, so we need to keep doing what we’ve been doing with podiums and wins.”

Qualifying at Oulton Park will get underway at 8.50am on Saturday, with both races taking place later on the same day.

Race one is set to begin at 10.50am, with the second race getting underway at 2.40pm.