Jake Hill in for Nicolas Hamilton at AmD Tuning

Jake Hill will step in for Nicolas Hamilton in the AmD Tuning Audi S3 for the final weekend of the BTCC season at Brands Hatch, returning to the series for the first time since the same meeting two seasons ago.

Hamilton has elected to miss the season finale, stating the reason is to concentrate on finalising his programme for 2016, when he plans to contest a full season with the team in its Audi S3.

And as a result, BRDC Rising Star Hill will step into the car this weekend for what will be his first outing in the BTCC since the 2013 season finale; where he secured a hat-trick of points finishes driving a Rob Austin Racing Audi A4.

Hill has spent the 2015 season running as part of AmD Tuning’s British GT Championship programme, with his best result being a third place finish in the GT4 class at Spa.

“It was a big surprise to get the call from Shaun asking if I’d be interested in racing this weekend, and I’m thankful to both him and the team that I’ve been given the opportunity to compete in the BTCC for the first time in two years,” said Hill.

“It’s going to be a step into the unknown for me as I haven’t driven the Audi before, but you can see it’s a good car even though the team is still learning with it. Certainly Nicolas has done a great job so far, and hopefully I can continue that this weekend.

“Because I won’t have driven the car until FP1, it’s difficult to make too many predictions about what I should expect this weekend, but the aim for me is to try and secure three solid finishes and some good results for the team.”

Team principal Shaun Hollamby added: “While it’s unfortunate that Nicolas won’t be out this weekend, it’s great that we can give Jake the opportunity to return to the BTCC grid at his home circuit. We’ve supported him since his days in the Ginetta Junior Championship and he has done a great job for us in our British GT Championship Porsche this year, so he was the logical choice to step into the Audi for this weekend.

“Given he hasn’t driven the car before, we’re not putting any pressure on him in terms of results and it’s just nice to be able to give him his chance to race a BTCC car for AmDTuning.com.”