Heat-affected Jake Hill battles to top 10 start

Jake Hill declared himself happy with his second top 10 qualifying of the year at Oulton Park, after battling what he called “unbearable” heat in the car.

Trade Price Car Racing’s Hill said conditions inside his Audi S3 were extremely tough, on what has been the hottest day of the year in the UK to date.

After an impressive third place in second practice, the 25-year-old consolidated his strong place and will start 10th for the first of tomorrow’s three races – behind a flotilla of seven BMWs and Hondas, Jason Plato’s Vauxhall Astra and Tom Ingram’s Toyota Corolla.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Hill said: “There wasn’t a lot more in the car. It was really good – we carried over what we had from free practice 2 and we made some small changes which helped, but the track was always changing.

“There was a little bit of a shower as we went out, which was small but might have been enough to take a couple of degrees out of the circuit. Overall, I’m pretty happy. The old girl’s done well!”

With air temperatures pushing 30 degrees and an extremely muggy atmosphere prevalent in the Cheshire countryside, Hill admitted the day had been a struggle.

“I’ve hustled it round today but the heat build-up is unbearable in the car,” he said.

“It is almost like heat exhaustion. It gives you the worst headache you’ve ever had and makes you feel sick. It’s really tricky to keep cool – we need to come up with something for tomorrow.”