MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill completed the recovery of his weekend in the British Touring Car Championship, following a race one exclusion, by claiming an authoritative race three win at Donington Park.
Hill, who had on Saturday proven his pace with pole position in qualifying, claimed a lights-to-flag win in a race in which he never came under threat from his rivals.
The BMW driver benefitted from second-placed Daniel Lloyd comparatively struggling for pace in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai, allowing Hill to quickly open up a lead of over a second as he was also able to relatively freely use his hybrid boost thanks to having finished ninth in race two.
NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton leapfrogged Lloyd for second on lap three with a determined side-by-side move through the Craner Curves, but the Ford driver lacked the race pace to close in on Hill thereafter.
Lloyd valiantly clung on to third for much of the rest of the race, but finally gave way on the penultimate lap when BTC Racing’s Josh Cook muscled past down the Craner Curves after Lloyd ran slightly wide on the exit of Redgate.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan had threatened to follow through but Lloyd held his ground and finished in fourth, whilst his team-mate Tom Ingram stole fifth from Morgan at the chicane further around the lap.
Morgan, who like in race two was racing without the use of any hybrid due to a technical issue, came home in sixth.
Toyota’s Rory Butcher had fought his way past Ingram on lap four, but Ingram came back at him eight laps later and from there the Scot followed him around, eventually finishing in seventh.
Team BMW’s Colin Turkington was eighth, making six places from his grid position as he also tried to stage a recovery from a race two stall at the start.
The top ten was completed by race two winner Gordon Shedden’s Team Dynamics Honda and Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson, who had made a poor start and dropped three places immediately at the start, before sliding to the bottom of the top ten over the rest of the race.
Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Chilton was one of only two retirements, the Hyundai driver peeling into the pits with front-left damage after clipping a tyre stack at the chicane.
Daniel Rowbottom failed to make the start after pitting at the end of the warmup lap due to mechanical issues.
Ingram is the early championship leader with 51 points, ahead of Shedden (44), Sutton (40), Cook (34) and Morgan (34).
Race results
POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
1 | 24 | M | Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 18:41.379 | 1:09.211 | 1 | |
2 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 2.148 | 1:09.351 | 4 | |
3 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 9.261 | 1:09.602 | 5 | |
4 | 123 | M | Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 9.878 | 1:09.751 | 2 | |
5 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 10.104 | 1:09.738 | 8 | |
6 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 10.466 | 1:09.678 | 6 | |
7 | 6 | M | Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 11.045 | 1:09.496 | 10 | |
8 | 50 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 11.247 | 1:09.358 | 14 | |
9 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 12.314 | 1:09.560 | 9 | |
10 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 14.651 | 1:09.946 | 3 | |
11 | 40 | I | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 20.502 | 1:09.741 | 11 | |
12 | 11 | I | Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 20.988 | 1:09.712 | 13 | |
13 | 9 | M | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 21.233 | 1:10.148 | 21 | |
14 | 12 | M | Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 22.33 | 1:09.698 | 27 | |
15 | 21 | M | Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 23.525 | 1:09.846 | 24 | |
16 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 26.255 | 1:09.938 | 15 | |
17 | 77 | M | Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 26.431 | 1:10.282 | 20 | |
18 | 17 | I | Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 27.474 | 1:10.108 | 18 | |
19 | 48 | M | Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 33.598 | 1:10.492 | 25 | |
20 | 42 | I | George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 34.042 | 1:09.507 | 7 | |
21 | 96 | M | Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 34.372 | 1:10.397 | 26 | |
22 | 97 | I | Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 35.112 | 1:10.315 | 17 | |
23 | 99 | I | Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 35.114 | 1:10.056 | 19 | |
24 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 44.729 | 1:11.281 | 23 | |
25 | 62 | I | Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 1 Lap | 1:11.245 | 28 | |
26 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 1 Lap | 1:10.335 | 16 | |
R | 3 | M | Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 3 | DNF | 1:11.534 | 22 | |
R | 32 | M | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 0 | DNF | N/A | 12 |