EAST Yorkshire racing driver Guy Smith hailed an “incredible” outing having finished fourth on his debut at the two-stage Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi, writes Toby Latham.

A former American Le Mans series and Le Mans 24-hour race champion, Smith endured the worst sequence of American Le Mans Series results of his career earlier this year when he endured a three-race non-finish “nightmare”.

This, however, was not the case at this prestigious event in the Middle East when he and fellow Brits Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane, driving the new Bentley Continental GT3, produced a superb result in the car’s first test race.

Having qualified fourth, the team finished the first six-hour stage of the race third.

The second half of the race began just as well, with the team set to finish on the podium. However, with ten minutes to go, a damaged underfloor prevented them from pressing home their advantage, meaning they finished both that stage, and the race overall, in fourth.

Despite his obvious disappointment at missing out on more silverware, Beverley-born Smith, above, was extremely positive.

He said: “This opening race for the Continental GT3 has been incredible. We came here with the only goal being to finish so I’m delighted with the result, and the whole team is fired up for next year.”

Smith will again be behind the wheel of the Bentley in the New Year first at Monza, in Italy, on April 13, before he begins the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series.