Jake Hill does the podium double at Croft

By Road Runner

Share

A fantastic weekend at Croft race circuit saw MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square driver Jake Hill put in a solid performance to finish twice on the BTCC podium.

It was a season best finish of P2 in race one, followed up with another podium in race two, and then a battling drive to take P7 in race three. All leading to the 26-year-old driver achieving a career-best weekend points haul.

Qualifying saw the BRDC ‘Superstar’ briefly take pole position, before an incident put him off the road, finishing in P4. However, Jake was then promoted to P2 as two other drivers suffered penalties for technical issues.

On a damp circuit, Hill was jumped by the fast-starting BMW’s of Turkington and Oliphant, but in a brave and committed move swept around the outside of first Oliphant at turn one, and then Turkington at turn two, moving back to P2.

Hill then set off chasing down leader Josh Cook’s BTC Honda, the pair exchanging fastest laps – Hill missing out by a mere 0.09 seconds – and after pressure from current BTCC Champion Turkington gradually edged away from the BMW, and kept charging to the final corner, taking a season-best P2 just 0.653 seconds behind Cook.

Starting race two again in P2, Jake tucked in behind Cook at the start and after braking for turn one, was thumped into by Turkington who had locked his front wheels, ending up in the wall and out of the race.

Hill charged on – now with a damaged car – but stayed calm to take a second podium of the day with a third placed finish.

For the final ‘reverse grid’ race, Hill was drawn P4 on the grid but after brake issues, Hill ran wide at the hairpin, with Oliphant barging back through and taking Sutton with him.

Managing the brake issues to the end of the third race, Hill kept cool to take more points and finish P7.

Having started the 2020 British Touring Car Championship season with an unprecedented five retirements in the opening six races, Jake Hill has now scored points in 14 of the last 15 races, including taking four podiums, and has moved up to P5 in the Independent Drivers category.

Jake’s standing after 7 races:

BTCC Championship table:

Position: 11^thPoints: 145

Independent Drivers Series table:

Position: 5^thPoints: 196

The next British Touring Car Championship race takes place at Snetterton on 24/25th October.

Road Runner are proud to support Jake this season. Watch BTCC races live on ITV 4.

Photography credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Jake Hill does the podium double at Croft

A fantastic weekend at Croft race circuit saw MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square driver Jake Hill put in a solid performance to finish twice on the BTCC podium.

Jake’s standing after 7 races:

BTCC Championship table:

Independent Drivers Series table:

Related Articles