Smith lucky after Rockingham shunt

Jeff Smith said he was a 'lucky boy' after being caught up in a huge accident in the latest rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Rockingham.

The Pirtek Racing driver had already suffered a trip into the barriers on the exit of Gracelands in race one that caused heavy damage to his car when he then lost the rear of the Honda Civic in the wet in race three.

Sadly for Smith, it came on the high-speed run through the banked oval at turn one with the end result being heavy contact with the wall on the outside of the circuit.

It resulted in extensive damage to the Civic although Smith was able to get out of the damaged car himself with the safety cell inside the car standing up well to the impact.

"I put one wheel below the white line on the inside and it simply swapped ends," he told the official BTCC website. Initially it was going towards the infield but then it gripped and went the other way...

"I thought 'this is going to be a big one' and just before the impact deliberately let go of the steering wheel. The next big scare was 'who's going to hit me?' But luckily nobody did. I'm a very lucky boy.

"I was a bit dazed and have some bruising and my shoulder's probably going to be a nice colour in the morning but otherwise all OK. All the safety structures did their job."