Jake Hill: ‘To be third in the points is a nice surprise’

Jake Hill was pleased with his opening weekend in the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park, where he emerged third overall in the standings after claiming a podium in the first race of the year.

The Laser Tools Racing and MB Motorsport driver had qualified his BMW in third on Saturday, as the top rear-wheel drive competitor, and at the start of race one he looked to be on course for a victory.

However, late in the race, Hill lost out to NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish three laps from the finish, leaving him to take second.

In race two, the 29-year-old had been running in fifth before the heavens opened and he was forced to pit for wet rubber.

When he emerged, Hill was down in 18^th, and come the chequered flag he only gained one more place, before also benefitting another place when a rival was excluded.

That left Hill to start down in 16^th for the final race, but he fought back to claim fourth after passing 12 cars.

“To be third in the points is a nice surprise, but I was pretty happy with what we learned about the BMW – in the last race especially,” said Hill. “We were really storming through what was quite a clean race in really difficult conditions.

“The car was great so huge credit to WSR and Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport. We’ve scored good points, had a car quick enough to get fastest lap in race three, but just made a collective error to stay out too long on slicks as the rain got heavier in race two.

“We’ve proven we can be quick in wet conditions and that’s a great takeaway.

“The weather really threw everything it had at us this weekend and race two was very unfortunate for us, but to bounce back from 16^th to fourth in race three was a fantastic way to end the day!”