Jake Hill was relieved to finally secure his first-ever pole position in the British Touring Car Championship, with the MB Motorsport driver securing the top time at Donington Park on Saturday.
In the first qualifying session of the BTCC’s new hybrid era, Hill put his WSR-prepared BMW in pole position by a margin of just 0.018 seconds over stablemate Colin Turkington.
After 170 starts, three wins and 18 podiums and three fastest laps, pole position was one of the only accolades which had still eluded Hill in the BTCC to-date.
“It’s a massive weight lifted off my shoulders and it’s also a great way to start this campaign in 2022,” said Hill to TouringCars.Net.
“Not only is it my first pole it’s my first qualifying session with WSR, so it’s fantastic for all of us.
“The boys and girls have worked their socks off today – the gearbox was out of the car 20 minutes before the session started. They really have worked so hard to get me in the best position they can and boy has it paid off.”
With Hill’s time being half a second faster than the previous qualifying lap record at Donington Park, he believes there wasn’t much time left to find on Saturday.
“I just needed to be a bit tidier, and I could probably have found a tenth, but that’s about it. Because the top four are covered by less than a tenth, it shows that there’s not a lot left – we’re all pretty much there. It’s just fantastic to have this feeling now of being a polesitter for the first time.
“The hybrid system is a bit tricky – sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I think that’s pretty common ground up and down the pitlane. But at the same time, an important part is getting the most out of it.
“Luckily, I have two very fast team-mates with me and collectively we can gather enough data to find out where the best place to use the hybrid is. It’s very handy, but that’s what you get when you drive for a fantastic team like WSR.”
Hill estimates that of the half a second over the previous pole record, around half of it is down to the BTCC’s new Hybrid Energy Management system.
“I reckon half of it [is down to the boost]. On average we’ve worked out that, track dependent, it’s worth somewhere between two and three tenths that the hybrid gains you, so there’s definitely some usage of that which is helping.
“But also the car development has definitely taken a leap forward. It’s interesting because yes, we’ve gained the power, but the cars are 80 kg heavier.
“It will be really interesting now to see how that affects the race, especially with the front-wheel drive cars.
“With us, in the rear-wheel drive, we’re quite lucky as the degradation is a lot lower, as to be expected.
“But with the front-wheel drive stuff we have no idea how much they drop off, so the races tomorrow will be a real indication of what that’s like.”
Hill isn’t worrying about the strategy of how to use his hybrid power on Sunday: “I’m just going to use it as I have been in qualifying and as I’ve found works best for me.
“I think part of it is where you feel you’re quick [the hybrid boost] then optimises that, so I’m going to continue using it in the same places where I feel comfortable using it and where I know the car’s happy.
“Hopefully that will be enough to keep me at the front.”