Champion drive from Jake Hill to clinch Brands Hatch pole
Reigning champion Jake Hill delivered a stunning lap in British Touring Car Championship qualifying to clinch pole position for the first of Sunday’s three races around Brands Hatch.
The West Surrey Racing driver had shown flashes of speed in free practice but come qualifying, he obliterated the existing qualifying lap record by more than a second to net the fourth pole position of his career.
Behind Hill and making it an all BMW front-row was his rookie stablemate Charles Rainford, who reinforced his front-running speed from earlier in the day by finishing less than a tenth of a second behind the current title holder.
Adam Morgan and Tom Ingram finished third and fourth respectively; although the latter had to bounce back from losing his fastest time in the first session after missing the technical area.
Dan Cammish was the fastest Alliance Racing Ford Focus in fifth whilst Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble completed the top six in his Vauxhall Astra.
Rounding out the top ten was Sam Osborne, Daniel Lloyd, Daryl DeLeon and Ronan Pearson.
Earlier on, Group 1 saw a number of big names struggle to make the cut including championship leader Ash Sutton, Donington Park race winner Tom Chilton and One Motorsport’s Josh Cook. Aiden Moffat was another to miss out after his fastest time was stripped from him after he caused a red flag having found the Paddock Hill Bend gravel trap.
In Group 2, other notable contenders to find themselves in strife was Dan Rowbottom, Aron Taylor-Smith and three-time champion Gordon Shedden – all of whom failed to progress and will start in the mid-to-rear of the field.
