JURATEK-sponsored Árón Taylor-Smith enjoys renaissance BTCC season for 2023

Date: Friday 27 October 2023

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Leading braking brand JURATEK has praised its four-time BTCC race winner and sponsored driver, Árón Taylor-Smith, for a brilliant 2023 racing season, despite a difficult final round at Brands Hatch.

Starting the season with a new team, CarStore Power Maxed Racing (PMR) and having gotten to grips with the team’s Vauxhall Astra challenger, JURATEK-sponsored Taylor-Smith enjoyed a steady uptick in form over the second half of the season.

That included ending a seven-year overall podium drought at Donington GP – then backing it up with another second-place race finish a fortnight later at Silverstone after a nail-biting race saw him ultimately lose out on his first race win since 2016 to eventual champion Ashley Sutton.

Árón Taylor-Smith regularly finished in the points places and finished the championship in 11^th place, with 165 points – his highest points haul since his 2015 season.

That, plus finishing second in the Independents Championships for 2023 and a starring role as the de-facto team leader in PMR’s three-car line-up, have all served to reinvigorate not only Taylor-Smith’s standing as one of the series’ leading contenders, but also expectations as driver and team look to build towards a long-term future together.

Despite placing inside the top ten and showing good pace in practice at Brands Hatch, Taylor-Smith could only battle to P15 in a typically hard-fought qualifying session on the Saturday afternoon.

An ‘elbows out’ approach paid dividends in the opening race on Sunday in front of a capacity trackside crowd and millions more watching at home on ITV4, as the Dubliner battled his way through the order to P11 at the chequered flag.

That should have put Taylor-Smith in the frame for another reverse grid draw, but a puncture in the second race put paid to his charge, and he was eventually classified P24.

It would be a similar story of misfortune in the season finale, as avoidable contact from another car caused race-ending damage to the Astra as Taylor-Smith battled through the order.

Taylor-Smith comments: “It was a tough final weekend, but in the grand scheme of things, and the season we’ve had, it means very little. We got unlucky with a few scenarios, but the fundamental performance of the car was in the right window, so that’s all I’m concentrating on – the rest is part and parcel of racing.

“I’d love to give a particular shout-out to my partner network. Without them, I’d have to go and find a ‘proper job’, so I’m immensely grateful for their support. It’s been so rewarding for me this year to have passionate, like-minded people in my corner at every race event, and they’ve definitely helped me unlock that extra tenth to kick on up the grid.

“Looking forward now, I’m keen to have a bit of a break and spend some time with my dog Archie, and our little family, but then it’s full focus on 2024, and I hope to be back, continuing this tremendous programme we’ve started to build with the team.”

Matt Leeming, marketing manager at JURATEK adds: “We’d like to congratulate Árón on a fantastic season, to see him take the podium was a brilliant moment for us as a brand.”

JURATEK has been involved in the development of high-quality braking components for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and coaches, since 1995.

For more information, visit: https://juratek.com/ and you can watch the BTCC live on race weekends here.

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