It’s half-time in the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, and HBC-sponsored Aron Taylor-Smith has reflected positively on his campaign to date.
Continuity has paid dividends so far for the Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing star, who enters the series’ annual summer break as the runaway leader in the Independents Trophy, steering his Vauxhall Astra to 10 class victories from 15 races to open up a 13-point advantage over nearest rival and team-mate, Mikey Doble. 
Taylor-Smith is also impressing in the outright stakes, with a podium finish and a perfect points-scoring streak so far this campaign putting him seventh overall, in and amongst the championship’s leading names.
So, with a few weeks left until the UK’s premier tin-top series returns to action at Croft, we sat down with the Dubliner to reflect on a few of his favourite moments from the campaign so far.
From Zero to Hero at Thruxton
Thruxton has long been among the best circuits for the Power Maxed Racing-run Vauxhall Astra, boasting some of the car’s best qualifying and race results over the years.
It’s also a circuit well-suited to Taylor-Smith’s driving style, with the Irishman a previous pole-sitter around what is often dubbed “the UK’s fastest circuit”.
New for 2024 is the BTCC’s new “Quick Six” qualifying system, more closely mirroring the format used in other high-tier motorsport categories, such as Formula 1, and placing an extra emphasis on performing in each of the three sessions to achieve a good starting spot.
Having cleared the first of three sessions with relative ease, Taylor-Smith span at high speed through the right-hander at Goodwood, hitting the barriers on the inside of the circuit. After limping the car back to the pits, a stellar effort by the Power Maxed Racing crew allowed him back out, but with no time to set the car up or perform any meaningful repairs, P12 was the best that could be achieved.
In race trim on Sunday, however, the 34-year-old re-paid their efforts in fine style, storming through the pack to claim a hat-trick of both Independent race victories and top-ten finishes.
“The buzz word for that Thruxton weekend was definitely ‘teamwork’,” reflects Taylor-Smith.
“I’m still in shock at how quickly the team was able to fix the car in qualifying and get us back out there. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’d have been up there in the battle for pole, but for that small mistake, but these are the fine margins in motorsport.
“At least we got an opportunity to show what the car was capable of on Sunday and re-pay that hard work from the mechanics, having some really good battles with a whole number of the championship’s big names, and walking away with a clean sweep of Independent wins, too.”
Dancing with the Rain Gods at Snetterton
Teams in the BTCC are no stranger to tyre strategy, with the rules mandating the use of three different Goodyear compounds throughout each race weekend. 
Also easy to predict – ironically – is the unpredictable nature of the Great British Weather, with this year’s Snetterton event lurching dramatically from sunshine to intermittent, but torrential, rain showers.
Despite heavy showers earlier in the day, Taylor-Smith and the Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing team noticed on their way to the grid a drying line forming around the 2.99-mile Norfolk circuit, aided by support races prior to the second BTCC race.
They went bold on strategy, opting to pit at the end of the formation lap to bolt on the slick tyres and – for a few laps at least – the result paid dividends.
Taylor-Smith emerged from the pits and went on an immediate charge, passing some of the series’ leading names with ease, and lapping over five seconds per lap quicker than the race leaders, all still on wet tyres.
ITV’s commentary team predicted an unlikely storm through to victory as Taylor-Smith’s Vauxhall Astra lit up the timing screens, but the weather had other ideas. A second, heavy rain shower in the closing laps rescued those on the grooved rubber, and Taylor-Smith duly finished P12.
“We’d have probably won that race, if not for that second rain shower,” recalls Taylor-Smith. “The decision to go onto the slicks was probably brave, in hindsight, but those sorts of races are a lottery, and we were a bit further back, so it was totally worth the gamble.
“The car came alive on the slicks so instantly we knew we were looking pretty good. The gaps were coming down at a rate of knots over the next few laps and, honestly, we weren’t even using the best of the tyres as the track was still drying, so that delta probably would have continued to go up and up.
“Unfortunately, the rain gods had other ideas, but it still made for a great show on the telly!”
Battle for the Ages at Brands Hatch
Having steadily climbed through the order across the first two races at Brands Hatch, ‘Lady Luck’ extended a hand to Taylor-Smith, and he was promoted to the front row for the reverse grid finale.
A lightning start quickly promoted Taylor-Smith to the lead on the first run through Paddock Hill Bend, but just a few corners later, he was shuffled back by a ‘classic touring car move’ from eventual winner, Ronan Pearson. 
Taylor-Smith then engaged in a battle for the ages with Pearson’s team-mate, Tom Chilton. Conserving both tyre performance and his Hybrid energy in readiness to mount a fight back for the race lead, the two ran nose-to-tail for several laps.
Unfortunately, heavy contact from behind after an attempted pass by Chilton pushed Taylor-Smith wide at Paddock and through the gravel. Aron kept his foot on the gas, re-joining and going on to take a commendable fourth.
“It’s a battle that people are still talking to me about now, several race weekends on,” says Taylor-Smith. “The car felt fantastic in that last race, and it was good to have a proper, old-school touring car race up at the front.
“Obviously, we can look back and say ‘we could have won that one’, but it’s honestly just so great to be back competing at the sharp end, that we can take the positives from it, and we still scored some good points.”
Returning to the podium at Oulton Park
Taylor-Smith is no stranger to the outright BTCC podium, having visited it 21 times over the course of his career to-date, but his most recent at Oulton Park undoubtedly ranks up there with the best.
Starting on the front row behind Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing team-mate Mikey Doble, Taylor-Smith made a strong start and successfully fended off the fast-starting BMW of Jake Hill behind.
Playing a ‘rear gunner’ role in the opening laps to try and preserve the result for the team, Taylor-Smith lost second spot to the BMW eventually but was still able to hold off a queue of championship contenders to score third and make it a double podium for the team as the last act before the summer break.
“I was so conscious during that race that, if you let one car past, you’ll be down to P15 in the blink of an eye,” Taylor-Smith explains.
“So, I was quite happy sitting there behind Mikey, protecting a fantastic result for the team. Ultimately, Jake was able to get by, but it would have been so easy in that scenario to keep falling down the order.
“The fact I was able to keep my foot in and then similarly hold off a bunch of the other title contenders is a real credit to where the team have gotten the car to, in terms of its development, and to end the first half of the season on the podium was a real feel-good moment, especially as Mikey got his first outright podium, too.”
So, what next…?
Croft marks the next chapter in the 2024 BTCC season, and Taylor-Smith is feeling re-charged and ready to come out fighting over the second half of the campaign.
“I’m feeling full of optimism,” he says. “What we’ve achieved over the first half of the season has been fantastic, but it only raises the bar higher for what we want to achieve over the remaining 15 races.
“People talk a lot about the Vauxhall Astra being one of the oldest cars on the grid, which is factually correct, but the connotation there is it’s past it’s best – which it definitely isn’t.
“There’s a difference between ‘old’ and ‘out of potential’, and all the development work Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing are putting in is paying dividends and showing that it’s definitely not the latter.
“So, I know I’ve got a good package beneath me, and the circuits coming up are among my favourites on the calendar, so we’ve a lot to look forward to, and I can’t wait to hit the road again in a few weeks’ time.”
