Jake Hills charges to victory in frenetic Knockhill opener
Jake Hill made a triumphant return to British Touring Car Championship action in race one at Knockhill as he charged to a commanding second win of the season.
The West Surrey Racing driver was forced to miss the previous round at Croft on medical grounds but back to full fitness in Scotland, Hill was in sublime form as he claimed victory ahead of Charles Rainford and Tom Ingram.
It was Rainford that led the opening exchanges of the contest as he launched off the line from pole position however the BMW driver soon came under pressure from his stablemates Daryl Deleon and reigning champion Hill.
As the battle for the lead intensified, Deleon became the first to make a move as he launched down the inside of Rainford heading into Duffus Dip. While he was able to complete the move, Deleon scooped up a lot of grass into his radiator as he ran deep and bounced over the grass.
With engine temperatures rising, Rainford and Hill soon struck back and dispatched Deleon at the hairpin. The EXCELR8 Motorsport Hyundai of Senna Proctor would also find a way past the Brands Hatch race winner moments later.
Whilst Deleon struggled for outright pace, the battle at the front began to ramp up and it culminated in Hill making a bold move around the outside of the hairpin on Rainford, moving into the lead as they streamed over the start-finish straight.
From there, Hill controlled proceedings – despite encountering a small issue when lapping Nick Halstead – to claim a sixth career victory around Knockhill, with Rainford making it a WSR 1-2.
Championship leader Ingram had elected to run the medium tyre and was running relatively untroubled in fourth behind team-mate Proctor however the positions were swapped in the run to the chequered flag to allow Ingram to score a handful more points.
Alliance Racing’s Dan Cammish was a lonely fifth, ahead of the charging BMW of Aiden Moffat and title contender Ash Sutton. Deleon meanwhile was able to nurse his car home to finish in eighth.
Rounding out the top ten was the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota of Aron Taylor-Smith – who effectively had the rest of the grid tucked up behind him – and the feisty Alliance Racing Ford of Sam Osborne.
Race 2 is scheduled to get underway at 14:35.
