HILL SLITHERS THROUGH AT ROCKINGHAM
Jake Hill today took his RCIB Insurance Racing Toyota Avensis to 19th on the grid for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s annual visit to the high-speed sweeps of Rockingham in Northants, on a day of mixed conditions and mixed fortune.
In free practice both Hill and his RCIB Insurance Racing team-mate Michael Epps suffered fuel starvation issues thanks to the unique anti-clockwise nature of the Corby circuit and it’s long, sweeping left hand corners, Hill stopping in the first session and having the car almost stop in the second session, before hard-work from the team sorted the issue for qualifying.
“Essentially the fuel pumps couldn’t get the fuel out of the tank as the long corners were forcing it away form them so the car cut out in the first session and almost did in session two. We ended up running a lot more fuel in the car than usual to prevent this, and then the team worked hard and sorted the issue for which I was extremely grateful” said Hill.
“However running an extra 20kgs of fuel meant the balance of the car changed which was frustrating as it felt really good early on in the session. Both the practice sessions were dry then it was a monsoon for qualifying so it meant we never really got a fair comparison from practice to qualifying so we’ll have to see what weather race-day brings us!”
As always with BTCC qualifying the times were incredibly close, Hill ending up P19 but just 0.3 seconds away from P12, despite the heavy rain.
Qualifying was halted mid-session due to the torrential rain (and thunder!) and upon re-starting Hill was caught out by standing water and skated off track.
“It was incredible. The Thunder was so loud I could hear it when I was on track! But the standing water made things pretty scary, I was lucky to come back with the car ok. I think we do have a good balance in the car so I’m confident of more points this weekend”
All three races will be shown LIVE on ITV4 with race one at 11.30am, race two at 1.45pm and the final race of the day at 4.30pm
In free practice both Hill and his RCIB Insurance Racing team-mate Michael Epps suffered fuel starvation issues thanks to the unique anti-clockwise nature of the Corby circuit and it’s long, sweeping left hand corners, Hill stopping in the first session and having the car almost stop in the second session, before hard-work from the team sorted the issue for qualifying.
“Essentially the fuel pumps couldn’t get the fuel out of the tank as the long corners were forcing it away form them so the car cut out in the first session and almost did in session two. We ended up running a lot more fuel in the car than usual to prevent this, and then the team worked hard and sorted the issue for which I was extremely grateful” said Hill.
“However running an extra 20kgs of fuel meant the balance of the car changed which was frustrating as it felt really good early on in the session. Both the practice sessions were dry then it was a monsoon for qualifying so it meant we never really got a fair comparison from practice to qualifying so we’ll have to see what weather race-day brings us!”
As always with BTCC qualifying the times were incredibly close, Hill ending up P19 but just 0.3 seconds away from P12, despite the heavy rain.
Qualifying was halted mid-session due to the torrential rain (and thunder!) and upon re-starting Hill was caught out by standing water and skated off track.
“It was incredible. The Thunder was so loud I could hear it when I was on track! But the standing water made things pretty scary, I was lucky to come back with the car ok. I think we do have a good balance in the car so I’m confident of more points this weekend”
All three races will be shown LIVE on ITV4 with race one at 11.30am, race two at 1.45pm and the final race of the day at 4.30pm
