Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport returned to winning ways in the seventh round of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship as Jake Hill secured a race victory and a brace of fifth-place finishes at Knockhill.
In true Knockhill fashion, it was a wet opening practice session that commenced the weekend's action at Knockhill. Starting the session on the wet weather tyre, the conditions evolved throughout the session as the circuit dried and Jake finished the opening practice in 16th place.
With the sun beaming down on the Knockhill circuit, the second practice of the day in full dry conditions saw Jake finish in 19th place - with a broken wishbone handicapping Jake's true pace at the Scottish venue.
For qualifying, the hybrid allowance would play a huge part in the drivers' success up and down the grid. Jake, with the second-least of all of the drivers, managed to qualify his Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW in 7th place - a fantastic achievement with his main championship rivals qualifying further down the grid behind him.
Starting the opening race of Sunday on the medium tyres, Jake's rivals in front of him, minus Rowbottom, would all start race one on all on the faster soft compound tyre. Jake would get off the line well to start the race and managed to get down the inside of Watson heading into turn one and moved himself into sixth place.
Staying with the leading pack, Jake would then pass Rowbottom on the twelfth lap to move into fifth place from where he took the checkered flag.
Starting from fifth place and the third row on the grid, Jake would this time be on the soft compound tyre with the cars in front of him on the grid all on the medium compound.
Using this pace advantage to full effect, Jake replicated his start from race one and squeezed down the inside of turn one to pass Taylor-Smith for fourth place.
Jake would then pass his WSR stablemate Morgan for third a lap later and continued his progress as he passed Cook into the final corner to take second place.
Chasing down race leader Turkington, Jake would get a great exit out of the final corner at the end of the fifth lap and pulled to the inside of Turkington before switching to the outside and pulling off the overtake to take the lead of the race.
Commanding the race until the checkered flag, Jake crossed the finishing line and secured victory by almost eight seconds to take his 6th victory of the 2024 season in what was his 250th BTCC career race.
Pulling out the number 12 for the reverse grid draw, Jake would start from 12th place for the final race of the day. In a chaotic race three, Jake would again make fantastic progress through the field to take the flag in fifth place.
Jake's victory and brace of fifth-place finishes meant that he outscored his main championship rivals, and closed the gap in the championship fight to just three points. Jake stays second in the Drivers' Championship as the championship heads for Donington Park, East Midlands, on August 24-25.
"Myself and the team are extremely happy with our trip to Knockhill! Two fifth-place finishes and a race victory means that we outscored my championship rivals this weekend which was the main goal heading into this round. Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport and the WSR crew did a superb job once again this weekend and the progress we made from FP1 to the races showcased how hard everyone is working to make sure we battling at the front. We cut the gap in the championship fight from 21 points down to just 3 and we are ready to continue the attack at Donington Park in two weeks' time." - Jake Hill
"With Jake's recent form at Knockhill, some would be quick to assume that this weekend would be one of our easier weekends on track - however that was far from the truth! This weekend showcased the resilience and hard work of all of the team as we made fantastic progress throughout the weekend. A brilliant strategy and fantastic driving on Sunday helped Jake score his 6th win of the season in his 250th career start which is an amazing achievement. We have three rounds remaining and anything can still happen. The tide can turn very quickly in this championship, so we need to remain focused and take it one session at a time. A huge thank you as always to all of our partners, fans, and team members for the endless support!" - Mark Blundell
