Jake Hill is tied for the lead of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship with just one round of the season to go, at his home circuit, Brands Hatch.

Hill had another excellent weekend with a win, a second place and a hard fought fifth place, at Silverstone, in what could best be described as sketchy conditions.

The weekend kickstarted with the opening practice of the day in dry conditions and Jake behind the wheel of his WSR-run BMW 330e M-Sport, would get up to speed quickly to end the session in second place, before following this up with a twelfth placed finish in free practice two as the team prepared for the vital qualifying session later that afternoon.

The qualifying that followed would see Jake miss out on the ‘Quick Six’ finale by as conditions worsened to record 9th place on the grid for Sunday’s opening race. However, post-session penalties for several cars ahead would see Jake promoted to fifth place as the stage was set for an action packed Sunday.

Race day would see sodden track conditions, and a strong start from the third row on the grid saw Jake following closely behind WSR stablemate Colin Turkington to pass Josh Cook round the outside of Copse corner on the opening lap to settle into the podium places.

Pulling away from the pack behind, Jake would soon line up a pass on the Northern Irishman, moving up into second place, before setting his sights on Ingram as he looked to chase down the race lead. Jake would soon appear on the tail of Ingram after recording some blistering lap times, but ultimately would take the chequered flag in second place, just 0.641 seconds behind.

For the second race of the day, Jake lined up in second place and would immediately look to challenge Ingram for the lead as the Kent based driver displayed quick race pace in the wet conditions. 

Following closely for the opening stages, Jake carefully plotted his move and would execute a superb overtake up the inside of Ingram into Brooklands, before seizing the lead into Luffield. Jake would then stretch his lead to take the chequered flag and notch up his seventh win of the season, an all-time season high for the Kent racer.

In the reverse grid draw, Jake was handed a 6th-place starting position and race three would get underway in rapidly worsening weather conditions before a red flag would bring a halt to proceedings.

After a 30 minute red flag period, the race would restart behind the safety car and on the fall of the green flag, Jake would carefully navigate his way to fourth place on the grid before the chequered flag fell. However, a post-race time penalty for contact would see Jake drop to fifth place as a result.

With the weekend coming to a close, Jake would end the day tied for the lead of the Drivers’ championship with Tom Ingram on 365 points. The BTCC now heads to Brands Hatch for the season finale on the 5/6th of October where the hotly contested Drivers’ championship will be decided.

Speaking after the weekend, Hill said: “Another fantastic year at Silverstone for us! Another win, a P2 and a P5 in the end. A huge thank you to Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport for giving me the best car I could ask for this weekend.

“We knew it was going to be tough, but we came away with a lot more than we expected. We now to go Brands Hatch as the joint leaders of the BTCC and everything to play for!

“A massive thank you goes out to the incredible team around me for all their hard work and also for those who are behind me and support me all the way. It’s much appreciated and I will continue to fight as hard as I possibly can at my home race and give you all the title fight you want.”

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