🇬🇧 Sam Smelt

Sam Smelt is a competitive amateur rated 2,862; this places him at the level of the front of club racing and the entry end of pro-am competition. He competed in national single-seater and touring car series between 2017 and 2021 before retiring, amassing 83 starts across five seasons. His career centred on the British Touring Car Championship, where he made 60 starts for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK across two separate spells, finishing P22 in his final year. He also raced in British F4 and British GT, the latter yielding his only podium; a single top-three finish in the championship.[1]

Smelt's record against his rivals tells the story of a driver competing considerably below the level of the fields around him. His most frequent opponents were established professionals and champions: he finished ahead of Tom Ingram, a two-time BTCC champion rated at elite professional level, only twice in 47 shared races; Ash Sutton, a four-time champion, only twice in 47 races; and Colin Turkington, a one-time champion, also only twice in 47 races. His average finishing position across all starts was P18.6, reflecting consistent mid-field to rear-of-field running. Against weaker opposition such as Jack Goff he fared somewhat better, but even there won only once in 45 races. Isolated results stand out: he finished ahead of Oscar Piastri, now a leading Formula 1 driver, once in their shared races, and beat Jake Hill, a professional-level champion, on four occasions.[2]

Smelt never won a race and secured only the single podium across his career, making clear that he lacked the pace and consistency to progress at the top of the national touring car ladder. His five years of racing were spent entirely in professional and semi-professional fields, but his results against the genuine front-runners in those fields place him firmly as a mid-grid amateur competitor who was unable to establish himself among paid drivers at the sharp end.