Guy Smith suffered disappointment in the American Le Mans Series’ only visit to Canada.

The 35-year-old from Beverley, co-driven by Chris Dyson, brought the Castrol Dyson Racing Lola Coupé Mazda home seventh overall, fifth in class at the historic Mosport track near Toronto. A collision with Dyson at the wheel cost them a likely rostrum finish.

Smith, who started the Canadian race fourth in the standings, set his car’s fastest lap around the ultra-fast 2.459-mile, ten-turn road course with 46 minutes to run.

Moments later the race went full course yellow after another incident, organisers taking the unusual step of temporarily stopping the race with almost 30 minutes to run to make repairs to the damaged crash barriers. After almost a further hour, officials opted not to re-start.

Said Smith: “It was a tough weekend for our Castrol-Mazda team as we had a great qualifying session to line up on the front row of the grid only to suffer a puncture with our qualifying tyres which forced us to start from the back.”

The ninth and final round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series is the 13th Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 2. The 1,000-mile endurance classic, which annually attracts record-breaking crowds, has previously seen Smith claim second (2005) and third (2007) overall.

Added Smith: “I’m really looking forward to the Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA2 race when we will be back racing in the LMP2 class.”