{"id":26974,"date":"2024-12-07T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T10:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/?p=26974"},"modified":"2024-12-07T07:59:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T07:59:01","slug":"ronnie-smith-targets-title-on-cooper-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2024\/12\/07\/ronnie-smith-targets-title-on-cooper-return\/","title":{"rendered":"RONNIE SMITH TARGETS TITLE ON COOPER RETURN"},"content":{"rendered":"

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RONNIE SMITH TARGETS TITLE ON COOPER RETURN<\/h2>\n

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Rookie Cup champion Ronnie Smith will hope to challenge for overall honours in the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy after confirming his return to the grid for the 2025 season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Smith will remain with Chandler Motorsport for his second year in the category on the back of an impressive 2024 in which he stepped into the series for the first time, having previously competed in the Fiesta Junior Championship.<\/p>\n

Despite his relatively low levels of experience in car racing, Smith marked himself out as one other watch on the opening weekend of the year at Snetterton as he qualified inside the top six, and then picked up a hat-trick of top six finishes.<\/p>\n

Taking an early lead in the Rookie Cup as a result, Smith would dominate the category with 13 class wins from 21 starts, whilst two overall podium finishes – at Pembrey and Brands Hatch – ensured he was the only rookie driver to finish inside the top ten in the overall standings.<\/p>\n

Seventh overall also meant Smith headed the Chandler Motorsport charge in the standings, despite team-mate Rhys Hurd – the man he replaces as rookie champion – scoring five victories.<\/p>\n

With a year of experience now under his belt, Smith will go into the new campaign amongst the fancied runners for the title and said his focus was very much on making the push for overall honours.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the back of our success in 2024, I\u2019m extremely excited to be returning to the Cooper class for a second season,\u201d he said. \u201cThis championship is the best place to be right now and I cant wait to show everyone what I can do again in 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim next season has to be on fighting for the overall championship, which I feel I have the pace and consistency to do. With Chandler Motorsport backing me like this did this year, anything is possible and I\u2019m looking forward to going up against the young talent that is sure to be part of the grid again.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Smith is the first driver to be confirmed with the Chandler Motorsport squad ahead of what promises to be a big season for the Essex-based team after it added a pair of JCW cars to its fleet for 2025, with Smith given the honour of shaking down one of the new cars at Brands Hatch.<\/p>\n

\u201cShaking down the JCW car was a surreal experience and it\u2019s moments like that where I realise how far I\u2019ve come in a short amount of time,\u201d he said. \u201cI only stepped into a kart for the first time in 2019 and now I\u2019ve been given the honour of driving Chandler\u2019s new car on it\u2019s maiden run.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe JCW was great with the power it has compared to the Cooper and it handled brilliantly. Hopefully it\u2019s something we could possibly venture into in the later stages of next season, but my primary focus is very much on that Cooper title.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Rookie Cup champion Ronnie Smith will hope to challenge for overall honours in the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy after confirming his return to the grid for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1462,1466],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-cooper"],"yoast_head":"\nRONNIE SMITH TARGETS TITLE ON COOPER RETURN - MINI CHALLENGE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2024\/12\/07\/ronnie-smith-targets-title-on-cooper-return\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RONNIE SMITH TARGETS TITLE ON COOPER RETURN - 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