Christopher Smiley (born 6 April 1992) is a British racing driver from Northern Ireland currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for Restart Racing. He is the 2022 TCR UK champion.

Racing career Early career Smiley began his career in karting in 2000, when he finished third overall in the BRDC Stars Of Tomorrow in 2006, he also raced in the Ginetta Junior Championship after winning the junior scholarship in 2007. He went on to win the 2013 Mini Challenge GB title, scoring nine wins and 14 podiums in 20 races. He made a one-off appearance in the 2014 Volkswagen Racing Cup winning both races at Oulton Park Circuit, as well as finishing fourth in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup in 2014.

British Touring Car Championship

In January 2016, it was announced that Smiley would make his British Touring Car Championship debut with TLC Racing driving a Toyota Avensis. However, he was forced to leave the championship at the mid-way point due to funding issues. He would end up 32nd in the standings with a best result of 16th at Thruxton. For the second half of the 2016 season, he joined the Renault UK Clio Cup and achieved a best result of fifth at Rockingham and finished the season in 17th position scoring 92 points.

Smiley returned to the BTCC in 2017 with BTC Norlin Racing where he would stay for the next three seasons. The relationship proved fruitful with Smiley scoring a debut win at Rockingham in 2018 alongside a further four podiums. His best season was 2018 where he finished 13th and scored 132 points.

For 2020, Smiley joined Excelr8 Motorsport and the brand new Hyundai i30 Fastback project. In the season opener at Donington Park Smiley secured a first ever podium for Hyundai in the championship on the cars debut. He finished the season in 14th with 106 points. He was retained by the team for 2021 but endured a tougher season, finishing 15th with a best result of fourth.

TCR UK Touring Car Championship Having been left without a BTCC drive, Smiley joined the 2022 TCR UK Touring Car Championship grid driving a Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK8). He re-joined his former BTC Racing team boss, Bert Taylor, at the newly formed Restart Racing. In the opening race at Oulton Park, Smiley completed a grand chelem by taking pole position, fastest lap and leading every lap on his way to victory. In the reverse grid second race of the day, he managed to fight his way up to fifth and left the opening round second in the championship behind Max Hart.

In the second event, Smiley once again qualified on pole but contact with Adam Shepherd in the Hyundai sent him tumbling down the order. He recovered to 14th after a pit-stop. In the reverse grid race he fought his way through to second but fell 44 points behind after Max Hart's double victory.

Round 3 took place at Brands Hatch and was a triple header. The weekend started well for Smiley with a second place in the opening encounter, but a mechanical failure in the reverse grid race and an eighth place finish in the third race dropped him to fourth in the championship behind Isaac Smith and reigning double champion Lewis Kent.

The championship returned to Oulton Park for Round 4, but Smiley was unable to reproduce his race winning form the opening event taking two fourth places which lifted him back up to 3rd in the championship.

Round 5 took place at Castle Combe, and Smiley returned to form by taking pole position. However, a clutch issue at the start of the opener led to him stalling on the grid when the lights went out. He managed to battle his way back through the pack to fifth position and secured an additional point for fastest lap. In the second race, Smiley was forced to start from the pit-lane due to the same clutch issue that hindered him in the first race. Again, he picked his way back through the field to finish fourth and took fastest lap. Due to issues for Lewis Kent and Max Hart, Smiley was able to pull himself back up to second in the championship behind Isaac Smith.

The penultimate event saw the championship return to Donington Park with Smiley qualifying second for the opening encounter but he fell back to third by the end of the race. However in the second race contact between Jamie Tonks and Adam Shepherd caused Shepherd's Hyundai to hit Smiley's Honda breaking the right rear suspension and forcing him out of the race. Due to the championship's drop score system however, Smiley found himself leading the championship, albeit equal on points with Smith.

The season finale took place at Snetterton after an almost two month break. In wet conditions, Smiley took pole by just over a second and took his second victory of the season in the first race. However, with Smith finishing behind him, and also taking the point for fastest lap, Smiley could only extend his advantage to eight points. In the final race of the season, Smiley and Smith battled on track with Smith eventually succumbing to the pressure, running wide, and handing the championship to Smiley with a margin of 21 points.

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded just in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver led race for at least one lap – 1 point given all races; Superscript number indicates points-scoring qualifying race position)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points 2016 TLC Racing Toyota Avensis BRH124 BRH228 BRH3Ret DON122 DON221 DON317 THR118 THR222 THR316 OUL128 OUL222 OUL321 CRO124 CRO224 CRO323 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 32nd 0 2017 BTC Norlin Racing Chevrolet Cruze BRH121 BRH2Ret BRH325 DON1Ret DON217 DON317 THR119 THR215 THR318 OUL1NC OUL227 OUL320 CRO120 CRO220 CRO313 SNE114 SNE217 SNE320 KNO119 KNO214 KNO326 ROC120 ROC210 ROC39 SIL118 SIL211 SIL37 BRH111 BRH2Ret BRH311 21st 45 2018 BTC Norlin Racing Honda Civic Type R (FK2) BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 13th 152 2019 BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R (FK8) BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 14th 132 2020 Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 FastbackN Performance DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 14th 106 2021 Ginsters Excelr8with TradePriceCars.com Hyundai i30 FastbackN Performance THR1 THR2 THR3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 15th 138 2024 Restart Racing Cupra Léon DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 17th 70 2025 Restart Racing Hyundai i30 FastbackN Performance DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 14th 140 2026 Restart Racing Hyundai i30 FastbackN Performance DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 THR1 THR2 THR3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 16th* 121* * Season still in progress.

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