Hill on song north of the border

JAKE Hill bagged a memorable victory in the Scottish leg of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, taking the chequered flag in the second race of the Knockhill meeting in what was his 250th outing in the competition.

Driving the Southam-based Laser Tools Racing he stormed through from fifth on the grid ahead of NAPA Racing’s Dan Rowbottom and Colin Turkington who had started on pole.

Knockhill was the scene of Hill’s first BTCC win in 2019 and he also claimed a double last year, including an excellent wet-weather drive, making him the one to beat north of the border.

Turkington (Team BMW) took the honours in the weekend’s opening race with Rob Huff (Toyota Gazoo Racing UK) winning the finale. Series leader Tom Ingram managed a second-place finish in the final race and now leads Hill by just three points going into the next round at Donington Park over the bank holiday weekend before the campaign concludes with trips to Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

Árón Taylor-Smith and Mikey Doble from the Bidford-based Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing team continue to dominate the Independents’ and Jack Sears Trophy honours.

Hill said: “I’m leaving Knockhill with a winners’ hat so I’m extremely happy. We had two fifth-place finishes and a win, which is mega. Neither Tom Ingram nor Ash Sutton, who we’re fighting against for the championship, had a big score so we’ve beaten them both considerably and taken the gap down from 21 points to just three. We are ready to continue the attack.”