Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport and Jake Hill collected their fifth victory of the 2023 BTCC season at Silverstone before electrical issues, whilst leading in race two, means Jake and the team depart the circuit with a feeling of 'what might have been'.
Starting Saturday in fine form, Jake topped the timesheets in the opening free practice session of the day and followed that up with a 4th place finish in the second session.
With this weekend seeing the return of the top-10 shootout in qualifying, Jake took provisional pole position after the first thirty minutes and headed into the 10-minute shootout as the man to beat.
In the shootout, Jake put his WSR-run BMW 330e M Sport on pole position by some margin but had his lap time deleted for impeding track limits. As the session grew closer to its conclusion, Jake's final attempt saw him secure 4th place in the ultra-tight session; as he missed out on pole by just 0.045 seconds.
Race day at Silverstone saw dark skies surrounding the circuit and with the rain beginning to fall gradually, the decision of dry or wet tyres became pivotal ahead of the first race.
Balancing the risks and rewards, Jake and the team opted for the wet-weather Goodyear tyres and when the lights went out, Jake stormed to the front of the field.
Leading from the opening corner, Jake never looked back and was never seriously challenged as he took victory by five seconds in a dominating performance.
Jake's fifth win of the season marks a personal best for the most amount he’s had in a single season and makes it three years in a row that he's tasted victory at Silverstone.
As the circuit dried for race two, Jake got a great launch and looked set to double his win tally as he commanded the race from the front of the field before a safety car for debris nullified his lead.
After the safety car, Jake continued at the front of the field before disaster struck. An electrical misfire, caused by a failure of a control part, saw Jake drop down the field and into 12th place.
While this would ultimately have given him race three pole, he was hit from behind by a rival at the race’s final corner and dropped to 20th. He recovered to eighth in Race Three, overtaking twelve cars but suffered another misfire – this time a less-impactful one – for the final 10 laps.
Jake now leaves Silverstone remaining 3rd in the Drivers’ Championship and looks to end the season on a high as the team returns for the season finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks' time (7 - 8 October).
"A weekend of massive highs and massive lows. Absolutely incredible to get a dominant win in race one with the correct tyre choice - I have to thank Mark (Blundell) and the team for helping us make a collective decision to put the right rubber on!
After race one we thought the championship fight was back on and leading in race two filled me with even more confidence. Unfortunately, a violent misfire from a boost sensor failure meant we came home to finish 20th. Race three was a decent comeback but again boost sensor failure hindered my progress and had to settle for 8th.
Overall a fantastic job by all the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport crew and WSR, the car's handling was incredible all weekend just let down by electrical issues and the championship is fight over.
Now we head home to Brands Hatch and we'll look to have some fun and end the season on a high.
Winning race one was particularly poignant as last week Dan Kirby passed away and I was proud to be able to dedicate my win to him. Dan was a fantastic guy and was Team Principle for Trade Price Cars Racing, the team Mark (Blundell) and I were teammates at in 2019. All our love and thoughts go to Dan’s family and friends." - Jake Hill #24
“We leave Silverstone feeling rather heartbroken and know we deserved far more. Jake and the team were fantastic from the get-go and were the car to beat this weekend. Unfortunately, after being let down by a technical component outside of the team's control, our championship challenge is over.
On a positive front, we were backed by hundreds of our guests this weekend and their support has been a key part of our success this season - so we were very proud to have given them a victory to witness!
We have one final weekend where we will put on a show for our partners, fans and friends at Brands Hatch!" - Mark Blundell, Sporting Director
