Kent’s Jake Hill had an enjoyable weekend at Goodwood with two wins and a fourth place finish.

“My best weekend yet at Goodwood” smiled BTCC Champion Jake Hill after taking Victory in the Gordon Spice Trophy on Saturday in the Ric Wood-prepared 1980 Ford Capri, along with a fiercely fought Win sharing with Kerry Michael in his 1979 Ford Escort RS2000 in the inaugural Win Percy Trophy, before rounding out the weekend with 4th position in Matt Holme’s JRT-prepared Ferrari 458GT3 in the ‘GT3 Shootout’.

The icing on the cake of a fantastic weekend for Hill was being voted ‘Driver of the Weekend’ by the Goodwood Members, and taking the highest points score for the Darnley House “A real honour and a very special moment” was how the Kent-based driver summed up his feelings.

Hill hit the track early on Saturday for practice for the Gordon Spice Trophy, an event for Touring Cars over 2800cc built between 1970 and 1982, and set a strong pace, narrowly missing out on Pole Postion, qualifying just behind three time World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx’s Chevrolet Camaro V8

From second on the grid, Hill made a superb getaway, taking the lead early on and battling hard with Priaulx and a fast-starting Romain Dumas and Rob Huff.

The pair ran side by side, passing and re-passing in a stunning display of race craft, with the Guernseyman bravely squeezing into the lead and gradually edging away.

However with 7 laps completed Priaulx slowed and was forced to retire with technical issues, leaving Hill to beautifully manage the gap to former World Touring Car Champion Huff and take his third Win in the Capri at Goodwood Members in five years.

“Such a great fight with Andy – hard, but fair and proper touring car racing. A real shame he retired although I felt confident as the race went on I would get a chance to close back in. My third win in this mega car, and as always a huge thanks to Ric Wood and the crew for having me on board and for giving me the best Capri yet”

Next up was the Win Percy Trophy, for Touring Cars under 2800cc and over 45 minutes with two drivers sharing the car, and Hill driving with Kerry Michael in the Ford Escort RS2000. Despite never having sat in the car before, Hill immediately set the pace, taking Pole Position early on, only losing out to the VW Golf of Jim Morris late on to end the session in second place.

Car-Owner Michael started the race, making a brilliant start and immediately taking the lead, before enjoying some great battles with firstly Morris, then Walker’s Mazda RX-7 and Nick Swift’s fiesty Mini 21275GT, then handling over to Hill as the Pit Stop window opened on lap 10, now in fourth place.

Blasting back into the race now 3.5 seconds behind three-time Le Mans winner  Andre Lotterer  who was now on board the VW Golf, Hill immediately set Fastest Lap.  He then continued to set fastest lap for seven further laps in succession as he remorselessly closed in on the current World Endurance Champion, finally pulling off a brave move around the outside of ‘no name’ to take the lead on lap 22,  and edging away just as a Safety Car was called.

With less than two minutes left the race restarted, with the officials then adding on a further three minutes to allow for the Safety Car, and Lotterer began to edge closer, so much so that on the final lap the German ace clipped the rear of the Escort, breaking the rear light, before Hill edged away to take a hard-fought Victory by 0.795 seconds.

“That was so much fun! Just a brilliant car to drive and I loved the fight with Andre. We had some fuel-surge on the last couple of laps which gave him the chance to challenge me, which was pretty tricky, but we managed to edge back away and get the job done. Thank You so much to Kerry and his team for inviting me to join them – my BTCC team-boss Mark Blundell usually races this car with Kerry and loves it – so it was lovely to jump in the car and get on with the car so well. I think the fans enjoyed the race – probably not quite as much as I did though – but glad to put on a good show”

The final event of a busy 82nd Member meeting for Hill was the GT3 Shootout, Hill joining six fellow Elite drivers in a one-lap against the clock battle, this time Hill driving Matt Holme’s Ferrari 458 GT3. After practice and qualifying Hill ended 4th fastest, and with the drivers running in reverse order put in a strong run in the final, to finish behind former BTCC Champion Andrew Jordan, GT Champion Phil Keen and Andy Priaulx.

“Lovely car to drive and very, very fast around Goodwood. Thanks to Goodwood and Jordan Race Team (JRT) and of course Matt (Holme) for having me as part of this special event. Great fun!”

Hill is back in a racing car straight away, heading to MIRA test track on Monday to shakedown his Laser Tools Racing MB Motorsport BMW 330 M-Sport prior to heading to Donington Park for the BTCC Media Day and test session.

From there Hill will make the trip to Spa-Francorchamps to race Era Motorsport’s Ferrari 296GT3 in the 24H Series with Dwight Merriman, Kyle Tilley and Ryan Dalziel, aiming to build on their maiden Podium together last time out in Mugello.

“It’s a very busy time but a really enjoyable one. Coming off such a marvellous weekend here at Goodwood I am buzzing to be back in my BMW BTCC car and then the 296 at one of my favourite tracks, Spa. So time for some rest and then a different race suit and off we go again!”

Images courtesy of MAW Imagery, Goodwood and Shannon Wylie