Restart Racing ended a hot and demanding Snetterton race day with a strong top-four finish for Chris Smiley, while James Dorlin was left to rue what might have been after showing encouraging pace across the weekend.
The third round of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship saw the team travel to the Norfolk circuit for Rounds 7, 8 and 9 of the 2026 season, with race day conditions proving particularly challenging as air temperatures reached 29 degrees. With soft, medium tyres in use across the weekend, strategy and tyre management were always set to play a key role come race day.
After a promising Saturday, which saw both cars finish inside the top ten in Free Practice and James secure a season’s best qualifying result for the Race to Pole, the team entered Sunday with both cars in points contention. James started the opening race from ninth on the soft tyre, while Chris, having been moved back to 17th following a post-race penalty from Saturday, chose to use the medium tyre in Race 1.
James lost ground on the opening lap after being passed by Ricky Collard and Sam Osborne, but quickly responded. He moved back ahead of Osborne into the hairpin on lap two, before using boost to pass Adam Morgan down the pit straight and into Riches on lap three. From there, he settled into ninth and began to manage the gap behind, before closing onto the back of Collard in the battle for eighth.
Despite applying heavy pressure in the closing stages, James was unable to find a way through. Being held up in that fight also brought Osborne back into play, forcing James to defend late on before bringing the car home in ninth.
Chris, meanwhile, spent much of the opening race in a busy midfield battle while running the medium tyre against several cars on the quicker soft compound. After holding position early on, he moved past Dexter Patterson’s Audi, briefly lost out to Nic Hamilton, then repassed him to finish 16th on the road. A post-race disqualification for Osborne promoted Chris to 15th, giving him a points finish from a difficult starting position.
With both cars switching to the soft tyre for Race 2, Chris began to make clear progress. James was passed by Ash Sutton at Wilson on the opening lap, then lost further ground as Gordon Shedden and Adam Morgan came through later in the lap. His race was then compromised by contact, which damaged the air intake and left the car down on power, forcing him into the pits at the end of lap three. He later returned to the circuit to check the issue ahead of Race 3, but was well out of contention.
Chris continued to move forward. After gaining track position in the early laps, he passed Mikey Doble’s Audi into the Bomb Hole, then climbed further after getting ahead of Josh Cook and Lewis Selby. A mechanical issue for Tom Ingram moved him into the top ten, before Chris made another decisive move on Daryl DeLeon’s BMW into Brundle to take ninth.
He continued to push in the closing stages and finished just 0.117 seconds behind Race 1 winner Charles Rainford, narrowly missing out on eighth but securing ninth place and a chance of a favourable reverse-grid draw for the final race.
Chris ultimately lined up ninth for Race 3 after seventh was drawn for the reverse grid, with James starting 20th on the medium tyre. Chris lost out to a rear-wheel-drive BMW on the opening lap but quickly responded, passing Ricky Collard to move back into ninth. Tom Ingram, charging through from the back of the grid, then came past at Wilson, but Chris kept himself in touch with the pack ahead.
As the race developed, Chris became part of a tight group fighting from fifth to tenth. He passed Dan Rowbottom into Murray’s, then moved ahead of Dan Cammish to climb to eighth. With the cars ahead beginning to battle among themselves, Chris seized his opportunity late on, gaining three places on lap 11 to move into fifth.
After the race, a penalty for Ingram promoted Chris to fourth, securing his best result of the day and a strong finish to the weekend.
For James, the final race was a frustrating end to a weekend that had promised much more. Starting towards the back on the medium tyre, he made a strong start and climbed from 20th to 18th on the opening lap after getting ahead of Hamilton and Selby. However, further contact cost him the ground he had gained, leaving him to bring the car home in 18th.
Chris said:
“So that is a very hot Snetterton finished for the day. We were on the back foot in race one this morning after the issue I had in qualifying with the bad vibration. To start the day from 17th, we made a few places and brought home some points in race one.“In race two, we put the soft tyre on and finished ninth overall. We passed six cars, which I was quite pleased about, but I still was not totally happy with the car.
“For race three, we made another big change to the car and it was definitely a step in the right direction. We finished in the top five, which is exactly what I needed. It was a confidence boost at the end of the day and puts us in good spirits heading towards Oulton Park in a few weeks.”
James said:
“So, to round up Snetterton and round three, it has been a tough one. It started off really well on Saturday, starting P6, but today has been a bit of a disaster by the end of it.“Everything was going really well until race two. Unfortunately, I got hit from behind and it pushed me into the back of somebody else, which damaged the intercooler pipe. After that, we had no power, so I had to pit, and that ruined the rest of the day really.
“We managed to get back out and finish, but starting race three on the mediums was always going to be tough. I managed to make some good progress at the beginning, but then I got hit from behind pretty hard and it let everybody I had overtaken on the first couple of laps back through. After that, it was just a struggle.
“It is frustrating because I think we really did have some good pace this weekend and we have certainly moved forward with the car, so there are a lot of positives to take. It is frustrating that we have not got the points to show for it, but that is touring cars sometimes.
“Luckily, it is only two weeks until we are back out at Oulton Park. I like Oulton Park, it is a good circuit, so we will be fine there. It is frustrating, but we will bounce back.”
With a strong top-four finish, clear race-day progress and both drivers showing pace across the weekend, Restart Racing leaves Snetterton with positives to build on despite a challenging Sunday. The team now turns its focus to Oulton Park, where it will look to carry that momentum into the next three rounds of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship.
Championship Standings
Following the Fourth round:
Drivers’ Championship: Smiley 16th, Dorlin 17th
Teams’ Championship: 7th
Independent Drivers: Smiley 6th, Dorlin 8th
Independent Teams: 4th
Jack Sears Trophy: Dorlin 1st