Jake Hill dominates Super Touring Power at Brands Hatch as former British Touring Car Championship stars turn out
19:26, 03 July 2023
updated: 12:17, 05 July 2023
Jake Hill swept the board in the first Super Touring Power event at Brands Hatch, overcoming a gearbox issue on his way to winning all four races.
The current British Touring Car Championship star handled Laurent Aiello's 1999 title-winning Nissan Primera at the meeting, which featured a strong entry of 20 cars.
Hill, of Platt's Heath near Maidstone, qualified second for the first Super Tourers Championship race on Saturday but powered around the outside of pole-sitter Stewart Whyte (Honda Accord) at Paddock Hill Bend to grab the lead on the opening lap.
From then on he rarely looked back, winning both races on the Grand Prix circuit on Saturday before repeating the feat on the Indy configuration on Sunday.
Whyte made the best start to the fourth race, outdragging Hill into Paddock Hill Bend, but a mistake at Clearways at the end of the first lap dropped the Scotsman out of contention.
Hill, who was driving one of three Nissan Primeras owned by Richard Wheeler, was the only current BTCC driver on the grid at the event, which attracted five entries from New Zealand.
"I've absolutely loved it, a huge thank you to Richard Wheeler for allowing me to drive it," the 29-year-old said.
"I've just completed a childhood dream. To drive one is cool but to win four races at Brands in one is even more special.
"We had a little gearbox issue on Saturday - an odd issue where it kept jumping from third to fourth gear - but the guys did a mega job with the car.
"We've had a great turnout of Super Tourers, especially with the Kiwis coming over, and hopefully MSV [the owners of Brands Hatch] can expand on this for next year."
Hill entered the meeting fresh from enjoying his best-ever weekend in the BTCC at Oulton Park, where a set-up change helped him claim two victories and a second-place finish in his BMW 330e M-Sport.
"We definitely unlocked something at Oulton - the car felt amazing - and it's now time to build on that at the Donington Goodyear tyre test on Tuesday," Hill said.
"We're going to explore a bit more about what we learnt, and try to get a bit more of an understanding about it, so we can go into the second half of the year as strong as we can.
"We've just got to keep going."
Hill currently sits third in the standings, 26 points shy of championship leader Ash Sutton, who took part in a demonstration run at Brands Hatch on Sunday in his NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus.
The next BTCC round will be held at Croft in North Yorkshire on July 29-30, with the Brands Hatch Grand Prix loop hosting the season finale on October 7-8.
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