Jake Hill: ‘I take my hat off to Josh Cook – he did a great job’

Jake Hill had to settle for another second in race two of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton, as Josh Cook once again proved to have too much pace for the MB Motorsport driver.

Hill again beat Cook away from the line at the start, and half way around the opening lap he looked to have extended a slight gap over the chasing Honda.

But heading up the hill into the chicane at the end of the lap Cook pulled off a strong move around the outside of Hill’s BMW, demoting the WSR driver to second.

Whilst Hill kept with Cook throughout the race – finishing less than half a second adrift – he didn’t mount any further serious attempts for the win.

Having followed up his second in race one with another second in race two, his third runner-up ranking in a row, Hill admitted that he found it difficult to get close to the leading Honda for aerodynamic reasons.

“As soon as I get close to him the aero wash just takes over and that unfortunately means I can’t get a run on him,” explained Hill to TouringCars.Net. “It’s a bit of a shame.

“I got close enough a couple of times, but in the end, I had to settle for second.

“I’m still pleased – it’s a great haul of points so far today and that’s what we need after a slightly bumpy first couple of rounds.”

Hill knew that getting past early on in the race was crucial, but admitted that the rear-wheel drive BMW’s speed at warming up its tyres had held him back.

“The big problem with rear-wheel drive, which is well known, is that we can’t get our front tyres up to temperature quickly enough for those first opening laps. It’s always been the same and I doubt it will change much.

“I had too much understeer through Church even once I had taken the lead, and Josh managed to get the run and have a very good move on me into the chicane.

“Unfortunately, he got back past, but I’m still happy with the result.

Despite losing the lead, Hill said that he had tried to close in on Cook to stage an assault for the lead, but that Cook had also improved his car from race one.

“I was a lot more persistent through the chicane this time, and really focussed on tidying that bit up because that’s what I was missing.

“We managed to do that, but they obviously moved their car forward as well and he was still very, very quick.

“I’ve got to take my hat off to him because he did a great job there.”

Second has moved Hill up to second overall in the drivers’ standings after race two, 25 behind leader Cook.