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Gavin Smith (racing driver)

{{short description|Irish racing driver (born 1977)}}

{{EngvarB|date=May 2015}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}

{{Infobox racing driver

| name = Gavin Smith

| image = Gavin Smith2005.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Smith as a BTCC driver in 2005.

| nationality = {{flagicon|IRE}} Irish

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1977|09|15}}

| birth_place = Dublin, Ireland

| related to = Árón Taylor-Smith (brother)

| current series = British Touring Car Championship

| first year = 2004

| current team =

| car number =

| former teams = GR Asia
VX Racing
Team Sureteam GA Motorsport

| starts = 63

| wins = 0

| poles = 6

| fastest laps = 2

| best finish = 8th

| year = 2006

| prev series = BTCC
SEAT Cupra Championship

| prev series years = 2004–07
2003–04

| titles =

| title years =

| awards =

| award years =

}}

Gavin Smith (born 15 September 1977) is an Irish racing driver. His younger brother, Árón Taylor-Smith, is also a racing driver who races in the British GT Championship, and formerly the British Touring Car Championship.

Career

Born in Dublin, Smith won Ireland's Fiat Punto championship in 1998, winning 12 times, before trying single-seaters for the next year. In 2000 he was in British Formula Renault, before moving up to the Scholarship class (using year old cars) of Formula 3.

File:Gavin Smith 2006 BTCC Oulton Park.jpg at Oulton Park in the 2006 British Touring Car Championship season.]]

However, it has been in touring cars that Gavin has raced since 2003. He had 2 seasons in the SEAT Cupra Championship, winning 4 races and coming 5th overall in 2004. By this time he had already made his BTCC debut in a one-off at Mondello Park, and he tested a VX Racing Vauxhall Astra in early 2005. After impressing the team he earned a drive in their third car, which the team openly admitted is awarded to the best driver who can bring enough money to fund it themselves, rather than necessarily the best available driver.

Gavin was 10th overall in 2005, although the fact that he was retained for 2006, while Colin Turkington was fired after finishing 6th, tells its own story. However, he did show signs of improvement late in the season: up until round 9 his best qualifyings were a pair of 4ths, and his best race result was a 5th place, whereas in the last 2 meetings he scored a 2nd and a 3rd, as well as qualifying 2nd in the last round.

In 2006, Smith improved to 8th overall, but lost his drive for 2007 when VX Racing downsized to a two-car team due to the pressures of preparing new-specification Vauxhall Vectras. With 3 rounds of the 2007 season to go, it was announced that Smith would join GR Asia in alongside Adam Jones, driving a 2007 spec SEAT León. He finished 13th Overall.

His younger brother, Árón, is also a racing driver and made his BTCC début in 2011 for the Triple Eight team, which previously competed under the VX Racing name.{{cite news|last=Turner|first=Kevin|title=Triple Eight signs Aron Smith for Knockhill|publisher=Haymarket Publications|work=autosport.com|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/94137|date=30 August 2011|accessdate=6 September 2011}} Árón races for Redstone Racing in 2012.

Racing record

=Complete British Touring Car Championship results=

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Team

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! 17

! 18

! 19

! 20

! 21

! 22

! 23

! 24

! 25

! 26

! 27

! 28

! 29

! 30

! Pos

! Pts

2004

! nowrap| Team Sureterm
GA Motorsports

! nowrap| Vauxhall Astra Coupé

| THR
1

| THR
2

| THR
3

| BRH
1

| BRH
2

| BRH
3

| SIL
1

| SIL
2

| SIL
3

| OUL
1

| OUL
2

| OUL
3

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MON
1
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON
2
{{small|9}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MON
3
{{small|Ret}}

| CRO
1

| CRO
2

| CRO
3

| KNO
1

| KNO
2

| KNO
3

| BRH
1

| BRH
2

| BRH
3

| SNE
1

| SNE
2

| SNE
3

| DON
1

| DON
2

| DON
3

| 20th

| 2

2005

! nowrap| VX Racing

! nowrap| Vauxhall Astra
Sport Hatch

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| DON
1
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| DON
2
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| DON
3
{{small|5}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| THR
1
{{small|9}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| THR
2
{{small|10}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| THR
3
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
1
{{small|10}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
2
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| BRH
3
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| OUL
1
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| OUL
2
{{small|11}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| OUL
3
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| CRO
1
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| CRO
2
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| CRO
3
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON
1
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MON
2
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON
3
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SNE
1
{{small|9}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SNE
2
{{small|11}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SNE
3
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| KNO
1
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| KNO
2
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| KNO
3
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SIL
1
{{small|11}}

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| SIL
2
{{small|2}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SIL
3
{{small|11}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
1
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
2
{{small|4}}

|style="background:#FFDF9F;"| BRH
3
{{small|3}}

| 10th

| 86

2006

! nowrap| VX Racing

! nowrap| Vauxhall Astra
Sport Hatch

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
1
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
2
{{small|4}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
3
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON
1
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON
2
{{small|5}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON
3
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| OUL
1
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| OUL
2
{{small|10}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| OUL
3
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| THR
1
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| THR
2
{{small|12}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| THR
3
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| CRO
1
{{small|9}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| CRO
2
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| CRO
3
8*

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| DON
1
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| DON
2
{{small|2}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| DON
3
{{small|5}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SNE
1
{{small|4}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SNE
2
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SNE
3
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| KNO
1
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| KNO
2
{{small|2}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| KNO
3
{{small|5}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| BRH
1
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| BRH
2
{{small|NC}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
3
{{small|10}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SIL
1
{{small|11}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIL
2
{{small|4}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIL
3
{{small|10}}

| 8th

| 123

2007

! nowrap| GR Asia

! nowrap| SEAT León

| BRH
1

| BRH
2

| BRH
3

| ROC
1

| ROC
2

| ROC
3

| THR
1

| THR
2

| THR
3

| CRO
1

| CRO
2

| CRO
3

| OUL
1

| OUL
2

| OUL
3

| DON
1

| DON
2

| DON
3

| SNE
1

| SNE
2

| SNE
3

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
1
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
2
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH
3
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| KNO
1
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| KNO
2
{{small|9}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| KNO
3
{{small|11}}

| THR
1

| THR
2

| THR
3

| 13th

| 17

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{Official website|http://www.gavinsmithracing.com/}}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070213040522/http://www.btccaction.co.uk/drivers/smith.php btcc:action profile]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Gavin}}

Category:1977 births

Category:British Touring Car Championship drivers

Category:Irish racing drivers

Category:Living people

Category:Motorsport people from County Dublin

Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers

Category:Team Meritus drivers