Jake Hill was ‘very happy’ to score two podium results in the British Touring Car Championship races at Silverstone, keeping him in contention to finish third overall in the drivers’ standings.
Going into the penultimate event, Hill was fifth in the drivers’ points, 39 points adrift of second-placed Dan Cammish.
However, Hill enjoyed a strong weekend at the Northamptonshire circuit, out-scoring Cammish by a huge 35 points thanks to two podiums and a fourth, giving the Laser Tools Racing driver plenty to fight for in next month’s season finale at Brands Hatch.
Hill had qualified in third on Saturday, three tenths off WSR stable-mate Daryl DeLeon, and was quickly in the lead fight in the opening race, taking second on lap five and hunting down leader Daniel Lloyd.
However, Hill had to settle for second, especially with a late-race safety car period due to a fire on Nicolas Hamilton’s car curtailing the action in the final six laps.
Race two saw Hill quickly move into the lead on the opening lap, where he remained for a further two tours, but he lost out to Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton, both with more TOCA Turbo Boost, after that and had to settle for third.
The reverse-grid finale saw Hill line up tenth but he made strong progress and took fourth at the finish, culminating in another strong weekend.
“I’m very happy,” said Hill to TouringCars.Net. “The car has been great all weekend, it really has, and we’ve had a real turnaround this weekend.
“We go to Brands ready to try and fight for third in the championship – that’s my aim. I’m looking forward to it.
“We definitely had the pace over the NAPA Racing UK cars. Ash was on the soft [tyres] there in race three and he had loads more boost than me in race two, but apart from that we’ve been flying. So, I’m very, very happy and looking forward to Brands.
“I honestly think if the safety car hadn’t been out for six laps [in race one] I could have had another pop at Dan [Lloyd]. He was starting to really lose the fronts – you could see that, and you could see that in the other races he’s had today he’s lost the fronts.
“It’s a bit of a shame; I would have loved to have got that race one win and I think it was on. The main thing was that Nic [Hamilton] was safe and they managed to put the fire out.
“It’s a nice feeling. It’s always nice to end the season on a high and that’s exactly what we’re hoping to do.
“We’re going to go to Brands, have some fun and try to get a result and walk away with P3 in the championship.”