Jake Hill pleased with qualifying pace

Jake Hill was left delighted with his pace despite carrying maximum ballast after picking up seventh on the grid for the second meeting of the BTCC season at Snetterton.

Carrying maximum ballast into the weekend in his Ford Focus, Hill found himself on the back foot after first practice when a wheelnut issue limited his track running.

Able to complete more meaningful running FP2, Hill successfully made it through the first stage of the two-part qualifying session before posting the eighth best time – noticeably ahead of his closest rivals in the points.

Hill would then be promoted up into seventh after the session when Gordon Shedden was excluded from the results.

“It’s been a good day for me and the whole team,” he said. “Me and Ollie have qualified together in sixth and seventh for MB Motorsport, and Sam and Jess have done well in the Motorbase cars. The car has done well with the weight onboard, and even more so when you consider we lost most of FP1 to a wheelnut issue.

“We’ve done better than a lot of the other guys with weight and its good for the championship for me to see the likes of Josh, Ash and Jason further down the order. We are right in the mix and if we can bring it through safely in round one, I’m confident we can have another great day tomorrow.”