ROKiT MB Motorsport and Jake Hill enjoyed a productive two days at the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Goodyear tyre test at Snetterton in Norfolk last week (12/13 July) as the 28-year-old went fastest during Wednesday’s afternoon session, and took third in the combined classification over both days.
Hill and his race engineer Craig Porley set about working through several fairly major set-up changes in the warm and muggy weather on Tuesday, with his West Surrey Racing-prepared BMW 330e M Sport in decent fettle.
“We were up to speed quickly on Tuesday morning setting a solid time despite the car not quite handling the way I wanted, but then we had a hybrid motor failure so it meant we only managed 11 laps all morning which was pretty frustrating. As always, the team worked their magic to get the motor changed quickly for me, so big thanks to them for getting me back out in time for the start of the afternoon session. Again, we worked through lots of stuff – most of it proved to not work out as we hoped! So, with that in mind, to end up P5 in both sessions and P7 overall for the day was pretty good.”
Hill set about getting down to a quick time early on Wednesday morning, with a lap four-tenths under the current record, only headed by NAPA Racing UK's Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton.
“Instantly the changes we made proved to have worked. The car was superb, I think we've really found the sweet spot with it. We didn’t actually get much running pre-season, so this was such an important session for us, and everything we tried gave us some really conclusive answers.”
In the afternoon session, Hill was one of the first cars on track, and topped the times with a 1.55.906s, matching the time on his second run. With several drivers again running the ‘soft’ tyre, the BRDC SuperStar was pleased to remain the fastest throughout the three-hour session.
“Just brilliant! The car was on rails, and we know there are some things that will work not just here but at most of the tracks we’re visiting in the second half of the season. We’ve had a couple of tougher weekends recently than we would like, having scored podiums at each of the opening three events including of course the win at Donington Park. I feel so much more confident we will be right back in the mix from now on – there are lots of points still on offer – and I am determined to still be in the championship fight when we get to Brands Hatch in October.”
The series reconvenes after its summer break at the tight and undulating Knockhill Circuit in Fife (30/31 July), a real drivers’ favourite and the scene of Hill’s maiden BTCC win in 2019.
“I love Knockhill, and feel confident both the car and me will be working well there – I just want to get going again now!
