Jake Hill “chuffed” with career best despite gremlins

Jake Hill said he was delighted with a career best second on the grid after qualifying at Knockhill despite encountering further gremlins on his Honda Civic Type R.

The MB Motorsport driver, who took his first podium of the year at Oulton Park last weekend, was the man to beat in the opening practice session of the weekend and also ran well in FP2; leaving him confident about pushing for pole when qualifying rolled around.

A misfire on the car forced the team to change some electrical wiring during the session and he rewarded them for their efforts with a lap that was good enough to put him on the front row alongside Ash Sutton and it left him well placed to try and fight for victory for the second season in a row.

“It definitely wasn’t easy, I was pushing the old girl to her absolute limits,” he said. “I’m just happy that we managed to stick it right up at the front, it’s my first-ever front-row start in terms of qualifying pace which is absolutely fantastic. It was just nice to be able to pull a lap together. I knew it was in me. We thought maybe a 50.7s was on the cards, but to grab a 50.588s was fantastic, I’m chuffed to bits.”

Team boss Shaun Hollamby was also pleased with the result, although he admitted there was concern at the electrical gremlins that had hit the #24 car.

“We’re really pleased as Jake did a great job and that’s his best result in BTCC qualifying so far,” he said. “Unfortunately we had another electrical issue that the guys from Swindon are working on and it’s getting a bit stressful at the moment. We can’t keep having these issues, although the boys did a great job to resolve it in qualifying. Hopefully there will be no repeat tomorrow.”