Hill fights through at Brands Hatch BTCC opener
The opening weekend of the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship delivered a thrilling mixture of drama and unpredictability over qualifying and the three races at Brands Hatch, giving BRDC Rising Star Jake Hill his first points of the year.
TAG Racing’s Hill impressed with his best-ever qualifying in BTCC, taking 9th overall in a chaotic qualifying session that was affected by rain and session stoppages, and the drama started immediately at the start of race one, with former champions Neal and Turkington colliding at the start, meaning Hill ended lap one of the season in a strong 8th place.
After the Safety Car went into the pits, Hill immediately became embroiled in a fierce scrap with Goff, Jackson, his RCIB Insurance Racing team-mate Mike Epps, and Rob Collard.
After Jackson and Epps edged past, Collard squeezed through and wheel-to-wheel contact resulted in broken suspension. After a lengthy pit stop for repairs put Hill 6 laps down resulting in a frustrating 28th place finish.
“Qualifying and practice were fairly inconclusive in terms of the car set-up so in race one what we ran wasn’t giving us what we hoped, hence losing pace and being passed. Rob (Collard) has apologised for the contact and it means we’ll have to work harder now!”
Starting 28th and on the Soft ‘Option’ tyre, Hill and his crew went for some major set-up changes, but with the tyres not having the performance of the ‘Prime’ tyre, it was difficult to run quickly for long, Hill moving up to a promising 19th despite the challenges.
“For us the Option tyre wasn’t really giving us what we needed. I’m really pleased to have made up 9 places and now we can aim for a top 15 in race three and some points”
A strong start and an opportunist and aggressive opening lap saw Hill’s distinctive TAG Racing #24 charge past Mat Jackson (who ran wide at Paddock Bend) and Pole-man Smith then Jelley and up to 16th - just outside the points - as lap two started.
Passing Rookie Senna Proctor on lap two, then Aron Taylor-Smith on lap three, Hill continued to make progress in “the best car I have had all weekend” and after closing down on Ollie Jackson and Dave Newsham, Hill swept past - then gained a further place when Cook hit problems and retired.
Now in 11th place Hill closed on team-mate Epps, the pair then closing in on race-one winner Tom Ingram. In a spectacular move that started at Druids Hairpin, Epps and Hill passed either side on back straight, taking them up to 9th and 10th places respectively!
As the laps counted down, the early-lap charge had taken it’s toll on Hill’s tyres that started to fade, meaning a challenge on his team-mate wasn’t on, but a top-ten finish after starting almost last in race two was an outstanding finish to the weekend.
“The car was much, much nicer in race three. The tyres worked well until the last few laps, and the move Mike and me pulled off on Ingram was mega! Can’t thank my team enough for all their efforts, and to the team’s and my fantastic partners for their support. We had guests at Brands from TAG Racing, RCIB Insurance, AutoAid Breakdown, and Sportif Motor Group, Ecoflam, Danfoss and Bill Rawles Classic Cars, plus support from afar from Rolec Electrical and Mechanical Services, Brisky Racing, AW Supply Services and Zynth”
“So we had a great qualifying and a great final race - important to get points on the board at every opportunity - and I am really looking forward to Donington Park in two weeks”
Qulifying is LIVE on itv.com/btcc at 3.30pm on Saturday 15th April, with all three races LIVE on ITV4 with races at 11.30am, 2.15pm and at 5pm on the Sunday 16th April.
TAG Racing’s Hill impressed with his best-ever qualifying in BTCC, taking 9th overall in a chaotic qualifying session that was affected by rain and session stoppages, and the drama started immediately at the start of race one, with former champions Neal and Turkington colliding at the start, meaning Hill ended lap one of the season in a strong 8th place.
After the Safety Car went into the pits, Hill immediately became embroiled in a fierce scrap with Goff, Jackson, his RCIB Insurance Racing team-mate Mike Epps, and Rob Collard.
After Jackson and Epps edged past, Collard squeezed through and wheel-to-wheel contact resulted in broken suspension. After a lengthy pit stop for repairs put Hill 6 laps down resulting in a frustrating 28th place finish.
“Qualifying and practice were fairly inconclusive in terms of the car set-up so in race one what we ran wasn’t giving us what we hoped, hence losing pace and being passed. Rob (Collard) has apologised for the contact and it means we’ll have to work harder now!”
Starting 28th and on the Soft ‘Option’ tyre, Hill and his crew went for some major set-up changes, but with the tyres not having the performance of the ‘Prime’ tyre, it was difficult to run quickly for long, Hill moving up to a promising 19th despite the challenges.
“For us the Option tyre wasn’t really giving us what we needed. I’m really pleased to have made up 9 places and now we can aim for a top 15 in race three and some points”
A strong start and an opportunist and aggressive opening lap saw Hill’s distinctive TAG Racing #24 charge past Mat Jackson (who ran wide at Paddock Bend) and Pole-man Smith then Jelley and up to 16th - just outside the points - as lap two started.
Passing Rookie Senna Proctor on lap two, then Aron Taylor-Smith on lap three, Hill continued to make progress in “the best car I have had all weekend” and after closing down on Ollie Jackson and Dave Newsham, Hill swept past - then gained a further place when Cook hit problems and retired.
Now in 11th place Hill closed on team-mate Epps, the pair then closing in on race-one winner Tom Ingram. In a spectacular move that started at Druids Hairpin, Epps and Hill passed either side on back straight, taking them up to 9th and 10th places respectively!
As the laps counted down, the early-lap charge had taken it’s toll on Hill’s tyres that started to fade, meaning a challenge on his team-mate wasn’t on, but a top-ten finish after starting almost last in race two was an outstanding finish to the weekend.
“The car was much, much nicer in race three. The tyres worked well until the last few laps, and the move Mike and me pulled off on Ingram was mega! Can’t thank my team enough for all their efforts, and to the team’s and my fantastic partners for their support. We had guests at Brands from TAG Racing, RCIB Insurance, AutoAid Breakdown, and Sportif Motor Group, Ecoflam, Danfoss and Bill Rawles Classic Cars, plus support from afar from Rolec Electrical and Mechanical Services, Brisky Racing, AW Supply Services and Zynth”
“So we had a great qualifying and a great final race - important to get points on the board at every opportunity - and I am really looking forward to Donington Park in two weeks”
Qulifying is LIVE on itv.com/btcc at 3.30pm on Saturday 15th April, with all three races LIVE on ITV4 with races at 11.30am, 2.15pm and at 5pm on the Sunday 16th April.