Reflecting on his best-ever season in the British Touring Car Championship, Jake Hill believes he has taken his driving ‘to the next step’ after he ended the year fifth overall in the drivers’ championship standings.
MB Motorsport’s Hill had gone into the season finale at Brands Hatch with an outside chance at the overall title, although his aspirations ended after he could only finish in 12th in the first race of the day, having qualified outside the top ten in 11th.
Hill then dropped to 15th on a chaotic opening lap in race two, before staging a recovery drive to claim tenth by the end of the race.
Having missed out on the reverse grid, Hill started the final race from tenth and steadily made progress through the field, including posting the fastest lap of the race, to claim fourth at the chequered flag.
Fifth in the end-of-year standings marks Hill’s best-ever classification, and he was pleased with his progress during the season, in which he claimed victories at Croft and Silverstone.
“What a way to end my most successful season in BTCC,” said Hill. “Whilst I’m disappointed not to take the title fight right to the wire, we fought really hard throughout the day and had some great battles.
“I’m really pleased to end it with a P4 result from where we started the day.
“It’s nice to finish with the fastest lap at home. We got the car right, just six sessions too late!”
Hill believes he has developed significantly as a driver, as he ended the year as comfortably the strongest Ford driver, 218 points ahead of team-mate Ollie Jackson.
“Overall, it has been good, I can’t complain. We’ve had nine, nearly ten, podiums, two wins and a whole bunch of fun in between. I feel like I’ve come on a lot as a driver which is good. It just makes life a bit easier for next year.
“We’ve taken it to the next step, and it shows. We were the best in the team, and it was nice to lead the Ford charge this year. I have genuinely enjoyed it.
“Obviously, there’s times I wish we could take back and change, but doesn’t everyone. I am genuinely pleased, and I can’t thank Motorbase and MB Motorsport enough.
“To be in the title fight until the last round is a real achievement and I’d like to thank all of the team for their hard work.”