Jake Hill clinches maiden title with second in Brands Hatch finale

Ash Sutton won the final British Touring Car Championship race of the season, but the overall championship honours went to Jake Hill after he fought his way to second in the fading light.

Building drizzle throughout the afternoon meant that the finale, held in the fading October sunlight, started in wet and greasy conditions, with the entire field electing to start on wet tyres.

Speedworks Motorsport’s Josh Cook started the reverse-grid race from pole position, but at the start he made a slow getaway along with Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith and NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton.

That created a bunching effect in the pack which allowed EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram to nip inside title rival Hill at the first corner, before gaining another place past NAPA’s Dan Cammish a few corners later.

Hill got by Cammish for fourth a lap later to stay close to his title rival, with both drivers moving ahead of BMW’s Colin Turkington on the second lap after he was knocked wide by Taylor-Smith.

The key moment in the race came on the fifth lap, as Hill got a run on Ingram’s Hyundai exiting
Surtees to draw alongside on Hawthorn Hill, both drivers using their limited hybrid at the same time.

Hill completed the pass into Hawthorns Bend, and a lap later he consolidated his progress by taking advantage of contact between Taylor-Smith and Cook to pass the former for third.

Three laps later Hill capitalised on a mistake by Cook exiting Graham Hill bend to assume second, and continued to move forward, whilst Ingram was lacking pace in the conditions and fell further behind his rival.

Despite saving a slide late in the race, Hill held on to second to claim his maiden drivers’ title, over ten seconds behind race winner Sutton.

Cook completed the podium, with NAPA’s Dan Cammish in fourth after making late race progress. Ultimately, Ingram fell further back in the closing stages, with BMW’s Turkington taking fifth ahead of Ingram in sixth.

In the end, Hill lifted his maiden title by a margin of eight points over Ingram.

NAPA’s Sam Osborne recorded a best finish of the season with seventh, passing Taylor-Smith five laps from the finish as the Irishman struggled in the conditions and fell back.

Toyota’s Andrew Watson, Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat and BMW’s Adam Morgan completed the top ten.

Power Maxed duo Mikey Doble and Taylor-Smith were thus left to conclude their season in 11^th and 12^th, although the result still ensures Taylor-Smith recorded his best-ever championship position whilst also remaining the only driver to finish every race in the points.

Toyota’s Rob Huff quietly retired from the race in the pits after completing nine laps; the 44-year-old had been struggling in the conditions until that stage and was running outside the points at the time.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	25:36.184	1:40.667	3
2	24	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	10.269	1:41.085	6
3	66	M		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	11.730	1:40.903	1
4	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	17.148	1:41.873	4
5	20	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	18.339	1:41.632	5
6	80	M		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	21.707	1:41.252	7
7	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	23.001	1:42.092	10
8	11	M		Andrew WATSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	23.945	1:42.755	11
9	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	24.360	1:42.624	8
10	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	26.688	1:42.257	20
11	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	15	27.161	1:42.761	19
12	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	15	28.569	1:40.830	2
13	45	M		Dan ZELOS	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	28.969	1:42.830	14
14	3	M		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	31.603	1:42.627	9
15	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	31.815	1:42.445	18
16	222	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	15	36.646	1:42.347	12
17	18	I		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	15	40.686	1:43.058	13
18	29	I		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	15	42.798	1:42.904	15
19	22	M		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	46.948	1:44.219	17
R	12	M		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	DNF	1:42.328	16