Ruby Smith continues her progress at Snetterton

Ruby Smith continued her rookie season in the Demon Tweeks Audi TT Cup Championship, gaining vital experience across the three races at Snetterton and showing good improvements from the opening round at Brands Hatch.

Photo credits: Audi TT Cup Racing

Ruby Smith continued her rookie season in the Demon Tweeks Audi TT Cup Championship at Snetterton. The young racer gained vital experience across the three races and showed good improvements from the opening round at Brands Hatch. Smith achieved a best result of 25th in race one, before placing 29th in race two. Another top-25 result looked likely in race three, before she was forced to retire midway through the contest.

Ruby made her circuit racing debut at Brands Hatch and finished both races without incident, banking vital experience in a highly competitive field of drivers. Smith was able to improve her lap times throughout the event, while making her first standing starts and also dealing with lapped traffic. Now looking ahead to Snetterton, the young racer was aiming to push towards the midfield and enjoy close battles with her rivals.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning with Ruby looking to make improvements from testing and build up her lap times. The nature of the Snetterton 300 circuit meant that drivers were given few laps in the short session to get up to speed. It was a positive session for Smith who set the 28th fastest lap time and was in contention with the drivers ahead of her.

The first of two races on Saturday began with Ruby lining up from 28th on the grid. It was a good start for the young racer who immediately moved up a number of positions off the line, before ending the lap in 28th position. Moving ahead of David Robb on lap two, Smith was doing well to avoid a significant amount of contact which was taking place ahead of her.

Robb reclaimed 27th position on lap three, but Smith settled in behind and this saw her run her fastest lap of the race. This time was just two tenths away from her qualifying benchmark and gave cause for encouragement as the second half of the race unfolded. Overtaking both Ryan Edgecumbe and Jonathan Williams in the closing stages, Ruby ended race one of the weekend in 25th position.

Race two of the weekend began on Saturday afternoon with grid positions decided based on race one finishing positions. Ruby’s 25th place result, combined with a penalty for Harry Yardley-Rose, saw her line up on the 12th row of the grid. It was a clean start for the young racer in just her second ever race meeting and although dropping to 29th, she enjoyed a side-by-side battle as lap two began.

On lap four, Ruby moved ahead of Paul Savage and subsequently ran the best lap of her entire weekend. Smith was showing improved performance from Brands Hatch, despite the much longer Snetterton 300 circuit, giving her cause for encouragement as she embarked on her first season in the Demon Tweeks Audi TT Cup Championship.

Smith’s enthusiasm then saw her collect a five-second penalty for track limit infringements, but she kept pushing on. Despite losing out to Savage and Mark Grice in the closing stages, Ruby’s 29th place result was a hard-fought result in warm conditions.

The grid for the final race of the weekend was based on the race two finishing position with Smith starting from 29th position. It was a busy opening lap at Snetterton, but Ruby did a nice job to pick her way through a number of incidents and end lap one in 25th. A safety car was then called for and with only a fifteen-minute race, this meant that only three laps were remaining when the neutralisation period ended. Misfortune then struck as Ruby entered the pit lane on the first lap of the restart and retired from the race.

It was a weekend of encouragement for Ruby who continues to develop as a driver in one of Britain’s premier one-make championships. Setting lap times closer to the midfield runners, Smith was able to battle with her rivals and this will be the sustained aim as the season progresses.

The next round of the Demon Tweeks Audi TT Cup Championship takes place on Saturday 8th June.