Back to back world titles for stock car champ

Stock car world champion Andy Smith.

Rochdale racer Andrew Smith has won the F1 World Stock Car championship for the second time in as many years.

Smith, who races F1 stock car 391, won the World Championship Final in Kings Lynn last month, ensuring a third world championship victory in the last four years.

The 36-year-old, who was born in Rochdale and still lives in the town, celebrated one of the most successful seasons of his career alongside his brother, Stuart Jnr, who was crowned British Champion.

The World Championship is run over a series of qualifying rounds, with at least one round at every stadium. The top 40 qualifiers are split into two semi-final rounds, one round on Tarmac, the other on Shale.

The highest scorer from the qualifying rounds gets to choose his preferred surface, the remaining qualifiers are then split into each semi depending on their position in the qualifying standings.

The top 10 finishers from each semi-final go through to the World Final. The winners of each semi-final take a coin-toss to decide who gets pole position on the grid.

The winner of the World Final gets the honour of wearing a Gold Roof on their car the following season.