Aron Taylor-Smith

Aron Taylor-Smith is an Irish racing driver who currently competes in the GT championships. Aron switched to GT racing after spending six full seasons in the British Touring Car Championship between 2012 and 2017. He made a BTCC debut in 2011, collecting 178 starts with four different teams and scoring four wins.

Until 2016, he competed as Aron Smith. Then, he married Lauren Taylor and changed his surname to Taylor-Smith.

Aron and his wife Lauren

Irish kart champion switched to cars in 2007

Born in November 1989 in Dublin, Aron began his motorsport career in 2004, driving go-karts in Ireland. After only three seasons, he became an Irish kart champion in 2006 before stepping into the Renault Clio Cup GB in 2007.  Driving for Mardi Gras Motorsport, Aron finished his debut season placed 13th in the championship. The fourth place at Thruxton was his best race result.

He stayed with the team in the 2008 Clio Cup season, finishing ninth in the points, again without wins. He also contested the 2008 Renault Clio Winter Cup with Team Pyro. At Croft circuit, he took his first Clio Cup pole and then the maiden victory. After four races, he was the winner of the Winter Cup.

Aron Smith spent five season in the Clio Cup

Three Clio Cup seasons with the Team Pyro

In the 2009 Renault Clio Cup season, Aron continued to drive for Team Pyro and gained his best result, finishing in the fourth place at the end of the season. In twenty races, he scored one victory and three podiums.

After participating in few rounds of the Italian Clio Cup in 2009, Aron completely switched to the Italian series in 2010, driving for Team Pyro. He won two races in Italy, at Monza and Imola, to finish fifth in the final standings and the best among non-Italian drivers.

In 2011, Aron returned to the British Clio Cup, still driving for Team Pyro. With three wins and nine podiums, he finished second in the championship, behind Paul Rivett, after a close title decider at Brands Hatch.

Aron Smith had a BTCC debut in 2011

BTCC debut at Knokchill with Triple 8's Vectra

In September 2011, while he was free of commitments in the Clio Cup, Aron made his BTCC debut, driving the #88 Vauxhall Vectra for Triple 8 Race Engineering at Knockhill. He picked up a single point on his debut after finishing 10th in the first race. He was 13th in the second race and retired in the third race.

Maiden BTCC win in the 2012 season's finale

In 2012, Aron became the full-time BTCC entrant after joining Motorbase Performance/Redstone Racing to drive the #5 Ford Focus ST. His teammates were Mat Jackson and Liam Griffin.

Smith was the regular points scorer through the season and he finally took his first podium in the penultimate round at Silverstone, finishing third in the first race. The maiden BTCC victory came in the last round at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit when Aron won the second race. He finished his debut BTCC season in the 8th place.

In 2013, Aron stayed with Motorbase to drive the #8 Airwaves Racing Ford Focus ST. His teammate was Mat Jackson. Aron led Jackson in the standings for much of the season but ended the year ninth, one place behind Jackson. Aron didn't win a race, achieving four podiums.

In 2012, Aron was driving Redstone Racing Ford Focus

2015 Teams' champion with Team BMR

For the 2014 BTCC season, Aron joined Team BMR to drive the #40 Chrome Edition Restart Racing Volkswagen CC, alongside former champion Alain Menu. Aron won two races, one at Oulton Park and the other at Snetterton, finishing again ninth in the final standings.

In 2015, two former champions, Colin Turkington and Jason Plato, joined Aron in the Team BMR. He finished the year 11th in the overall standings, claiming six podiums. His teammates were much more successful. They were fighting for the championship, finishing 2nd (Plato) and 4th (Turkington) in the points. The Team BMR won the Teams' Championship title.

Aron scored two BTCC wins in Team BMR's Volkswagen CC

2016 - fourth BTCC win and third win with Volkswagen

For the 2016 BTCC season, Team BMR switched Subaru. Aron stayed in the #40 Volkswagen CC and moved to the newly formed Team BKR, with Mark Howard as a teammate. Aron started the year strongly with podiums at in the first two rounds at Brands Hatch and Donington Park. After that, he was far from a podium until the 8th round at Rockingham Motor Speedway, where he won the third race of the weekend. At the end of the season, Aron finished 14th in the points.

In 2017, Aron Taylor-Smith was MG factory driver

MG factory driver in 2017

For the 2017 BTCC season, Aron Taylor-Smith joined Triple 8 Racing to drive factory-entered #40 MG 6 GT. For the first time in a career, Aron was a factory driver.

His teammate was Daniel Lloyd, who was replaced by Josh Cook after four rounds. The season was disappointing for Taylor-Smith, who finished 27th in the final standings.

Switch to GT racing in 2018

In 2018, Aron changed a racing discipline, joining Team Parker Racing to drive a Bentley Continental GT3 in the Blancpain GT Series. He was sharing ther #31 car with Josh Caygill in three rounds of the Sprint Cup, scoring one victory in Silver class at Brands Hatch.

In 2019, his main competition was the British GT Championship in the GT4 category. He was driving the #23 Ford Mustang GT4 for RACE Performance, sharing a car with Sam Smelt. Scoring no wins or podiums, they finished 22nd in the points.

Photos: arontaylorsmith.com,