Major maiden win in a mini for Rob Smith

And Smith followed up with a podium in the second part of the MINI Challenge triple-header at Donington Park before winning race three as well.

It was a dream start for the 22-year-old, who has switched from the Renault UK Clio Cup – yet could have been even better.

He also led race two before a crank seal issue produced clutch slip and pushed him down to third.

Smith put the Excelr8 Motorsport car on pole for Saturday's race one and drove from lights to flag to take top spot on the podium.

And the race ace, backed by Evergreen Tyres, Grouptyre and BMTR, produced the drive of the meeting in Sunday's third race to go from fourth on the grid to first at the flag.

He passed race leader Ryan Rhode on lap six and then eased away to win by six seconds.

"It's been a great weekend," said an elated Smith. "I said after qualifying if I could get two wins and a podium in the other race I'd be really happy – and that's what we did.

"The team has done an incredible job with the car. We haven't made any changes to the set-up from when we tested at Donington two weeks ago – the car has been on rails.

"Donington has been a bit of a bogey track for me in the past in the Clio Cup, so hopefully this weekend bodes well for the rest of the season in the MINI Challenge.

"We were comfortable in all three races, only the clutch in race two caused any problems, so we've definitely had a bit of a cushion. Hopefully we can improve and build on that and keep things going this way."

Round two takes place at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent on May 9-10.