‘Frustrating’ weekend for Jake Hill at Croft

Jake Hill endured a ‘frustrating’ weekend in the British Touring Car Championship at Croft, the Laser Tools Racing driver managing just two points finishes which saw him lose the series lead.

Heading into the weekend, the WSR-run driver held a four-point advantage at the helm of the drivers’ standings, and as such would have the least amount of hybrid boost available to him in qualifying and race one.

However, a track limits exceedance in the second part of qualifying saw Hill lose a lap time, leaving him 11^th on the grid for the opening encounter.

Starting on the favoured soft tyre for the opening race, Hill was able to fight his way up to sixth by the chequered flag to ensure a solid haul of points to start the day.

However, on the hard tyre in race two, the 30-year-old fell back to ninth early on, before contact with EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Chilton on lap nine saw him spun around into the barriers and to the back of the field.

Hill could only recover to 16^th thereafter, leaving him also starting race three near the back.

That final race, back on the soft rubber, saw another recovery drive from the BMW racer, who climbed 11 places – more than any other driver – to finish in fifth and salvage his weekend.

“Ultimately, [it was] a frustrating weekend for myself and the team at Croft,” said Hill. “From having our lap time deleted in qualifying and being forced to start in 11^th, to being sent into the barriers by a competitor – it felt like the odds were stacked against us all weekend.

“I can’t fault the efforts of the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport team and WSR, the car felt mega all weekend and they all worked their socks off to ensure we got everything out of every session on track.

“Unfortunately, we just had no luck, and factors outside of our control played a big role in our results this weekend.

“That’s racing sometimes, we have to take the bad with the good and come back fighting at Knockhill. It’s a circuit I love, and we have a great record at so we’ll be heading there with maximum attack and aiming to reclaim that championship lead.”

MB Motorsport Sporting Director Mark Blundell praised Hill’s resolve in dealing with bad luck and misfortune in North Yorkshire.

“A frustrating weekend to say the least,” added Blundell. “We certainly didn’t have luck on our side at Croft, but the determination of Jake and the team leaves us confident that we can bounce back strongly in two weeks’ time.

“Motorsport can be cruel sometimes but knowing the pace of Jake and our BMW 330e M-Sport, we’d rather be lacking luck for one weekend than lacking performance.

“We know at this moment that we need to stay focused and use this as motivation and as a springboard to come back fighting in Scotland.”