Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport scored their second-biggest points haul of the season at an action-packed Silverstone, as together Árón Taylor-Smith and Gordon Shedden collected 51 points for the team across round nine of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship.
The team arrived looking to build on a successful run since the summer break. Saturday's free practice session gave both drivers plenty of running and a solid platform for qualifying, with Gordon finishing tenth and Árón fourteenth.
Both drivers were drawn into the second qualifying group, and once both groups had run, Árón would start the qualifying race from ninth, with Gordon in fifteenth.
The race to pole saw both drivers in the thick of the action from the start as the pack ran bumper to bumper around the short National layout. Árón held ninth to the chequered flag, while Gordon made steady progress through a series of calculated overtakes to take a hard-fought tenth. With both cars inside the top ten, the team was well placed for Sunday.
Race day brought gloomy skies, and rain began to fall as the drivers set off on the formation lap for race one, with all remaining on slick tyres as they lined up on the grid. Both drivers fought hard in a tightly packed field amongst changing conditions, with action up and down the order on every lap. Gordon charged from tenth to a deserved sixth on the softer tyre, while Árón brought his car home in ninth, battling hard on the medium tyre, and both drivers secured a healthy points haul for the team.
In race two, Árón made his way up to seventh with some spirited overtakes, making good use of the softer tyre. Gordon, meanwhile, on the less favourable medium tyre, crossed the line in tenth after an intense race-long battle, but a post-race penalty for track-limits infringements dropped him to twelfth.
The reverse grid draw put Árón third and Gordon twelfth for the final race, with sodden conditions promising an eventful finish at the home of British motorsport. Both drivers came through a chaotic opening in extremely challenging conditions and quickly found a rhythm. Árón battled at the sharp end early on, while Gordon drew on his years of BTCC experience to climb to fifth by half-distance. In the closing laps, the Scotsman hunted down the final podium spot but missed out by just 0.309 seconds, finishing fourth. Árón followed him home in eighth to round off another strong points haul for the team.
Gordon remains eighth in the drivers' championship, while Árón climbs to fourteenth after his third-best weekend of the season. Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport sit fifth in the teams' championship and hold second in the Independent Teams' standings, with Gordon and Árón second and seventh respectively in the Independents' Trophy.
All focus now turns to the 2026 season finale at Brands Hatch on 10-11 October.
Árón Taylor-Smith (#50) said:
"It was a consistent weekend for us at Silverstone; we stayed out of trouble and navigated each race successfully. It was good to secure my third-best points haul of the year, and the four top-ten finishes give us plenty of positives to take into the season finale.”
"Now it's time to regroup for one last push at Brands Hatch, a happy hunting ground for me, with the scene of my first win with the team on the Indy circuit and also my first ever BTCC win on the GP loop, where we'll be giving it everything to finish the season as strongly as possible!”
Gordon Shedden (#52) said:
"It was a positive weekend. We made the most of every opportunity to score valuable points as the season comes to a close, even if we didn't quite get the podium we were after! We had good pace throughout, which showed in the battles through the pack in race one and again in tricky conditions in race three, where we only just missed out on the podium.”
“It's great to have banked so many points, and now the focus is on finishing strongly at Brands Hatch as we remain firmly in the fight for both the Independent Drivers’ and the Independent teams’ championships, so we will definitely be giving it all we have out on track.”
Mark Blundell, Sporting Director, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, said:
"It was a solid weekend for the team, with our second-biggest points haul of the year and both cars scoring in all four races. Both drivers performed well. Árón collected four top-ten finishes and showed some good consistency across the weekend, while Gordon showed his quality with a superb race day, capped by a charge through the field in race three that left him so close to the podium.”
"We'll take all the positives from Silverstone and look to finish our season in the best possible way at Brands Hatch, with us still very much in the battle for the Independent Drivers’ and Teams’ championships.”
