MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square recovered admirably from a difficult Saturday to take victory in race three at Silverstone last weekend (25/26 September) as the squad took its second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship win in seven days.
Heading into Rounds 22, 23 and 24 second in the Drivers’ Standings, Jake Hill endured a difficult qualifying session with 66kg of success ballast on board his Ford Focus ST and would settle for 22nd on the grid, while his team-mate Ollie Jackson lined up in 17th spot.
With a plan to progress through the pack during the opening contest, both cars made good starts and quickly gained positions. Jackson climbed to 13th by lap three and would defend the spot to the flag for a seventh points-finish of the campaign, while Hill would run as high as 19th place, before a late-race battle dropped him to 21st.
The team had high hopes for race two, as Hill shed the ballast he was forced to carry during the opener. Both drivers made similarly good starts as their race one attempts and were quick to ascend the order once again.
Having broken into the points-paying positions, Hill continued to pick off the pack ahead and took tenth place, although Jackson – who ran as high as 11th in the opening laps – unfortunately dropped back to 18th following an incident.
With Hill lining up third for the final reverse-grid encounter, the 27-year-old quickly moved into second place in the opening laps, as Jackson also made up four spots on the opening tour.
By lap seven, the #48 machine had risen nine places while Hill was harassing the Vauxhall of race-leader Dan Lloyd.
Hill seized his chance to squeeze past Lloyd and into P1 through the inside of Copse corner on lap 11, holding the place for the remainder of the 22-lap race and taking the squad’s second victory of the campaign.
Continuing his impressive recovery drive, Jackson would go on to secure tenth place, the 37-year-old's best finish since his race two podium at Snetterton earlier this year.
“I’d like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone in the team and at Motorbase Performance,” said Hill. “If you’d told me on Saturday that we’d be here with a race win and fastest lap I would’ve snapped your hand off. The team knew exactly what we needed to do to turn it around and we really made the most of it. I’m thrilled for everyone, we’ve all worked so hard so it’s great to see our work being rewarded.”
“It was quite a day and I’m really happy to have ended the weekend inside the top ten,” added Jackson. “We worked very hard Saturday evening and Sunday morning to find a bit more pace in the car and that allowed us to climb our way up the order. It’s a shame race two panned out the way it did as we would’ve been in the mix for the reverse grid draw but that’s just the way it is. It was good fun coming through the field and that will give us a boost heading to Donington Park.”
“Congratulations to all of the team!” said Sporting Director Mark Blundell. “They worked their socks off over the past 24 hours to turn what was a very difficult qualifying into a great race day. They should all be very proud of their efforts – particularly in a doubleheader and can all enjoy a short rest with yet more silverware for the cabinet. Well done to all.”
