More points on the board for HIll at Rockingham

Rockingham’s unique challenge of part-oval and part twisty and abrasive tarmac provided TAG Racing’s Jake Hill with a real challenge in the latest Dunlop MSA BTCC event in Northamptonshire.

After a bruising encounter at Knockhill last time out, 23 year-old Hill was given a penalty after contact with Senna Proctor late on in the final race in Scotland, resulting in Hill having to start at the back of the grid for race one at Rockingham.

A fighting opening race saw Hill battle through to 24th place from 32nd on the grid, pleased to have finished the race and made some useful progress.

“It was always gonna be tough knowing we were starting at the back, so we just wanted to make some solid progress. We did that and at least we we came through in one piece and scored some points for the Independant’s Category”

Race two saw a great start and a battling run, benefitting from some chaos ahead and pulling off some impressive moves and getting ahead of Newsham, Simpson, Butcher and Epps amongst others to charge through to 17th overall.

“Race one we had the option hard tyres on which didn’t work for us, race two was much better and we managed to get past a few people on pace and benefit from some dramas, so P17 was pretty decent in the circumstances”

The final race of the day saw another good start, and battles with Chilton - passing him spectacularly around the outside of the 130mph banked turn one - and scraps with Mat Jackson, Shedden and Neal - and getting close to taking overall points, ultimately taking a fighting P16 and more important points in the Independent Category.

“We finished all three races and made progress every time. I took some important points in the Independant’s Category and that is our focus. As always my TAG Racing team were awesome - working so hard to give me the best car possible. Frustratingly we never really unlocked the performance of the car  - I’m sure we can learn from this weekend and build on it for the remaining races at Silverstone and Brands Hatch. We had our guests from TAG Racing, ROLEC Racing, Sportif and it was great to have my family here too. So grateful for the support from them plus Ecoflam, AWS Appliance Spares,  Bill Rawles Classic Cars, Zynth and Danfoss for helping out hugely…without everyone’s support….and especially that from Team HARD and Tony Gilham and their partners we wouldn’t be here. We will be back stronger!”

Next race is Silverstone - catch qualifying live on itv.com/btcc on Saturday16th September at 15.40pm - with all three races broadcast LIVE on ITV4 on Sunday 17th September - Race one at 11.55pm - Race Two at 14.30pm - Race Three at 17.05pm….with all races repeated on ITV4 the following Saturday.

Report by Simon Hill

Images from Jakob Ebrey Photography