As the British Touring Car season wound to a close for the year, so did the TOCA support series with Kent drivers impressing.

Drivers had their last chances to bid for glory and finish on a high, and this is exactly what the local guys and girls did.

Following a successful previous round at Silverstone, Jack Mitchell had set himself up perfectly to clinch the Ginetta Junior championship at his home circuit.

To secure the championship, all Jack had to do was score a single point to diminish the hopes of his closest title rival, James Kellett, with Kellett’s only chance of winning relying on him taking pole position, winning both races and having Mitchell not score in either race which, after Mitchell’s form this year, it was looking unlikely.

But, the championship battle did not make it to the races since Kellett, no matter how hard he tried, could not qualify on pole position, missing the extra point which came with the accolade, allowing Mitchell to win the championship before they had turned a racing lap.

With the pressure off, Mitchell got stuck in to the action up front scoring a solid 4^th position in race 1, but he was unable to finish the final race of the season in quite the same way.

On just the first lap, contact was made up front which sent Jack in to the inside wall on the run to the hairpin. His car was avoided by the following pack, but the damage to the rear and side of the car meant his race was over.

Jack was not the only Kent-based racer in the Ginetta Junior field – car racing novice, Esmee Hawkey completed her 3^rd ever, race meeting behind the wheel of her Ginetta.

The successful kart racer made the switch to the Ginetta Junior Championship with just a few rounds left of the season and has had to learn at a rapid pace just to keep up with the far more experience racers in the field.

During her final race, on an ever drying race track, she scored a positive top 15 finish to cap off her season, giving her experience to build on for next year’s return to the track.

Another support race Championship fell to Tunbridge Wells own, Mike Bushell as he secured the Renault Clio Cup UK championship.

Coming into the weekend with a lead over Josh Cook, all he had to do was keep Cook in sight during the races to clinch the honours.

Josh tried all he could to score full points and steal the championship from Bushell, but on just lap 3 of their last race, Cook lost the car as he tried to take the lead from Paul Rivett into turn 1.

His title challenge ended on the spot, leaving Bushell to bring home the car to secure the championship. Even though Bushell had clinched the title following Cook’s off, this did not stop him putting on a show. He managed to finish his final race on the podium in 3^rd position, breaking the Clip Cup lap record in the process!

Further down the field a couple of series new comers claimed hard fought, top 10 finishes to round of their seasons with Paul Knapp posting his best finish of 8^th and Gary Jenner in 10^th.

Jake Hill made his return to the drivers seat with help from a number of sponsors. He found himself back behind the wheel of a Porsche in the Carerra Cup GB Championship at Brands.

During a soggy Friday practice, Hill posted a number of very competitive times comparative to the series regulars, briefly topping the time sheet by over a full second in the wet.

Come qualifying, the field faced another session on a wet track. With Friday’s practice form behind him, Hill had the right to feel confident being one of the first cars to brave the conditions.

Unfortunately, as he felt his way round at the start of the session, he lost control of the 460bhp Porsche round the back of the Brands Hatch GP circuit, beaching the vehicle in the gravel, ending his chances of posting a competitive time.

This was a major setback for the first race as he had to start at the rear of the field, but this didn’t dampen his spirits. Hill got stuck in from the moment the start lights went out.

As he battled through the mid field races, scoring a 8^th place finish which considering his starting spot on the grid was redemption for the young Kent racer.

Unfortunately, race 2’s start grid was also set from their qualifying session taking their second fastest time, but since Hill had spun out of in the early stages he had to start at the rear of the field with it all to do again.

Using his experience from the first race he know what he had to do – again, getting stuck in from the start. As the race got older, the rain came down harder with the track losing temperature and grip by the lap.

Some of the lead drivers gambled and pitted for wet tyres but Jake braved it on the slick tyres he had started on. The rain continued to fall, but not at the intensity the others had hoped.

The slick shot cars managed to keep a decent pace on the damp track which meant the cars which had gambled for wets could not close the gap back to them in time.

Hill relished the conditions and found himself as the fastest car on track as he slowly picked his way past some of the faster guys, and soon found himself in 3^rd, only behind the two championship contenders Josh Webster and Michael Meadows.

Hill would hold position and score an impressive podium finish from the very back of the grid in a race of varying track conditions.