Jake Hill came away from a stiflingly hot weekend at Brands Hatch having taken his best-ever BTCC qualifying position, and his first points of the 2020 season.

He topped both free practice sessions, but also suffered also some bitterly cruel luck.

26 year-old Hill, from nearby East Farleigh in Kent, relished the chance of attacking the 2.43 mile sweeping Grand Prix Circuit, and immediately set a superb pace, topping both of Saturday’s free practice sessions for the first-time in his career.

“The car was superb in practice, then in qualifying we were also really strong, taking P4 – another 0.055 seconds and I would have had Pole Position. It’s mega to be racing at my ‘home’ circuit, and to have such a quick car under me has been incredible.

Hill started race one well but the fast-starting BMW of Turkington swept past, with Hill then running strongly and quickly in the early stages, setting 4th fastest lap and battling with Tom Ingram until lap 11 when the Gazoo Racing Corolla edged past.

After a Safety Car came out as Neal hit the wall, Hill was immediately under threat from Chilton and Sutton, the latter edging the No.24 car onto the grass resulting in Hill dropping to P10.

A late charge from Morgan was skilfully rebuffed by Hill, the BRDC ‘Superstar’ pleased to have finally got points on the board.

“We were quite strong early on, but the track has gained SO much grip since yesterday and I was struggling with balance. But it’s great to reward my team and my partners with some points, and we are in good shape for race two later today.

A slick start and determined opening lap saw Hill past Jelley and Proctor and up to P8 before a Safety Car appeared after Thompson and Crees tangled, Hill instantly chasing down and passing Oliphant at the re-start in a superb move, and then Morgan now up to P6 at the end of lap 10.

Suddenly the Honda Civic Type-R slowed, dramatically blasting a swathe of flames from the exhaust, signalling an engine failure, incredibly Hill’s third such failure in five races so far in 2020.

“My car had a much better balance in this race, but it’s all for nothing when I have been let down again by an engine issue. It’s taking so much out of the whole team – my amazing crew Rob T, Craig, Ben, Rob O, Dan, Micky and Data Rob have been superb. Changing an engine and in such hot conditions has been so tough. Thanks to all of them for their hard work again.

Starting P21 and with another engine fitted and some changes made to the balance of the car, Hill made a fantastic start, passing Brown, Butel and Hamilton almost immediately, then as a wild incident unfolded at Graham Hill bend involving Goff, Boardley, Morgan and Ingram, also passing team-mate Osborne to end lap one in P14.

Battling with Cook contact saw the No.66 car drop down the order, then when Proctor ran wide gained another place and Hill up to P12 after just four laps.

As Neate spun and Cammish stopped on lap 7 Hill now ran in the top-ten, working hard to edge up to the battle ahead.

However as his tyres ‘went off’ he was caught by Matt Neal, who barged past at Graham Hill bend, puncturing the front-left tyre, and this and other damage forcing Hill into retirement.

“Well I really didn’t expect to be sitting here after two race weekends with only one finish so far! My team have been fantastic – worked their arses off for me – and I love the lot of them. But the engine issues have been beyond frustrating.

“We now have a couple of weeks before Oulton Park so hopefully our engine partners Swindon can resolve this. And then I need Lady Luck to come back off Furlough please! Thanks to my amazing partners for their support and for believing in me so much. I am pretty fed up now, but will be ready to go next time.”

Images courtesy of Jakob Ebrey