Jake Hill confident of strong race display

Jake Hill says he is confident about a strong race day for the MB Motorsport squad after securing a front row start for the seventh meeting of the BTCC season at Croft.

Hill showed top three pace in free practice at the wheel of his FK2 Honda Civic Type R and then held provisional pole for a spell in a qualifying session that featured two red flags and a wet, but drying circuit.

Although he lost his second run to a trip through the gravel at Clervaux whilst avoiding another car – an off that resulted in him suffering a puncture – Hill still ended up with the fourth quickest time, and was then boosted onto the front row when both Tom Ingram and Senna Proctor failed the ride height test.

“It’s a shame for Tom and Senna and I’ve been in that position before, but rules are rules,” he said. “You know that on the wet tyre, the ride height drops and you have to be careful of that, and then end result is that we now have a front row start.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get a second run due to an off at turn one as I think we could have had pole on merit, and I really wanted to try and do that. To be honest, I didn’t think the car would be so competitive, but it has been right there and to set the fourth quickest time was still a good result.

“Tomorrow we have Colin [Turkington] and Tom [Ingram] behind us so it will be tricky to defend at the start, but I’m sure we can have a good race. I’m confident in my car and whether it is wet or dry, I’m feeling good.”