BTCC The Contenders: Árón Taylor-Smith

After an incredible season in 2024, winning dominating the Independent’s Drivers Championship winning two thirds of the races, the newly signed Toyota driver gets his first chance with a manufacturer entry in 2025.

Making his first move into cars in 2007, the Irishman raced in the Renault Clio Cup finishing the season 13th in the standings, claiming a best result of 4th at Thruxton. Continuing in the championship in 2008, Árón moved further up the table that season. He consistently scored points in all but the final race of the season, but once more missed out on a podium finish, claiming fourth once more and rounding out the season in ninth place. He would also compete in the winter series at the end of the year claiming his first pole and victory in the championship. He went on to win the Winter Cup with two wins at Croft, followed by two seconds at Rockingham.

2009 saw the young Irishman stay with the series for a third year having another highly consistent year notching up three podiums that season with one of those being a race win. This string of consistent results moved him further up the table to fourth place in the standings, once more showing strong improvement before switching to Clio Cup Italia in 2010.

This would once more show good consistency and pace as he would finish fourth in the championship with two wins and two poles and would show him to be a good set of hands before moving back to the UK series in 2011. That year would once more show improvement from Árón as he stood on the top step three times that season claiming six more podiums throughout the season. However, it was not enough to claim him the title as he finished runner up by the end of the finale at Brands Hatch. That year also saw him make his BTCC debut at Knockhill claiming points in his first race and finishing 13th in the second race later that day.

2012 would see Smith make his full-time debut in the championship with Redstone Racing once more impressing taking his first podium in the BTCC at the first race in Silverstone before taking his first win in the penultimate race at Brands Hatch, allowing him to claim eight in the standings by season end. The following year Árón continued to show good speed taking four podiums that season finishing ninth in the standings.

2014 saw the Irishman move to Team BMW. Now driving the Volkswagen CC alongside former BTCC Champion Alain Menu in which he would top in the standings come years end, adding a further two wins to his tally and another podium at Silverstone in the late part of the year. This allowed him to finish ninth in the standings only six points behind former champion Matt Neal. His second season in the Volkswagen was better on points scored, with all four full seasons he competed in surpassing the 200-point mark, but a winless year meant he dropped to 11th in the standings. He did claim his most podiums in a single season though with six, claiming three Independent Championship wins and a number of podiums.

For 2016 he moved to the newly formed Team BKR. Starting the year strong, he claimed a podium at Brands Hatch and Donighton, later claiming a win in the final race at Rockingham, managing to boost himself to 15th in the standings by years end.

A switch to MG for 2017 saw a difficult year for Taylor-Smith with him only managing lower end points finishes all year, with a best finish of ninth, it meant that he finished the year in 27th.

He then went on a few year hiatus from the BTCC, moving to the Blancpain GT Series for 2018, racing in the Silver Cup. He took a class win at Brands Hatch but bowed out after the Misano rounds mid-way through the season. 2019 saw Árón move to the British GT Championship racing in then GT4 Category in the Ford Mustang. Once more racing in the Silver Cup he scored only one overall points finish but would consistently score points in the Silver class, claiming 21 points by seasons end.

A return to the BTCC in 2021 with Cupra and Team HARD, he would get consistent results throughout the season, doing decently on return claiming 20th in the standings. The following year, Taylor-Smith stayed in the Cupra, bringing home three 10th place finishes and a number of lower end points finishes in a decent year with a Cupra that was not quick for the most part of the year.

The next season, the Irishman moved to Vauxhall, joining PMR for 2023. Immediately putting in decent results, bringing home points for the team before taking home his first podium of the season at Donighton Park, almost seven years to the day after his last win or podium at Rockingham in 2017. He would add another second place to his tally the following event at Silverstone, giving him 11th place in the overall standings. He would also take the runner-up place in the Independents Championship to Josh Cook. He claimed Independent podiums in 19 out of the 30 races that season, including 4 Independent wins.

Last season, he would go one further, claiming the Independent championship in 2024 winning 20 out of the 30 races for the Independents class. He took a further two overall podiums in the season and was the only driver to score points in all 30 races that season. Finishing seventh overall, he showed how consistent and quick he could be stepping it up a level.

Heading into 2025, Árón has made the switch to Toyota making it the first time since his season in the MG that he steps up to at Manufacturer entry. He looks forward to the chance to race in a fully-fledged manufacturer operation, looking to prove himself and is aiming for podiums and potentially wins throughout the year on a consistent basis.