Jake Hill stormed to a magnificent double win for WSR and BMW on a day of high drama for the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill.
With Stephen Jelley adding another podium finish, it was a highly memorable day for the organisation, which maintained BMW’s lead in the Manufacturers’ standings amid bright sunshine and heavy rainshowers at the Scottish circuit.
“I’m very pleased for Jake for his two wins and to see Stephen on the podium for the first time this year,” commented Team Principal, Dick Bennetts. “It’s been a bad day for Colin and Adam, which could have been very different if they hadn’t been taken out by other cars. We’ve maintained BMW’s lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship, which is extremely important, so we’ll be looking to extend that at Donington next time.”
Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport driver Jake was in imperious form aboard his BMW 330e M Sport during the opening two races.
Running third as part of a multi-car battle for the lead of Race One that featured seven cars as rain began to fall at one-third distance, he moved up the order after switching to wet tyres and claimed his third win of 2023.
He doubled his tally for the weekend with a 10th career win in Race Two; the Kent racer resisting intense pressure from behind for the final five laps. Contact restricted him to 14th in Race Three, which was held in heavy rain that began just as the cars were sat on the grid.
Jake, who scored the 330e M Sport’s seventh win from seven events this season, is now the highest-placed BMW driver in the Championship, holding third spot with Team BMW’s Colin Turkington one place behind.
Leicester racer Stephen Jelley set a strong pace initially in the dry conditions at the start of Race One, but gained significantly from being the first driver to pit for wet tyres after the heavens opened.
Leaping up the order as the rest of the field followed suit, he finished fourth and then broke his podium duck for the year a few hours later with a commanding drive and result that means all four WSR drivers have now finished inside the top three in 2023.
Having used his option ‘medium’ tyres in the opener, he was set to benefit from the faster softs in Race Three from fifth on the grid, but contact from behind in the wet encounter restricted him to 19th.
Four-time champion Colin Turkington, who was third in the standings coming into the weekend after wins at the past two events, endured a frustrating day.
Forced to stack-up behind team-mate Adam Morgan during the Race One tyre changes, the Northern Irishman’s pitstop was delayed as a result and he finished a lapped 11th, having fought back from 19th.
He was on course for points in Race Two – again recovering from 19th after being elbowed off the track at the hairpin – when he was punted into a tyre barrier by a rival driver on the penultimate lap. From 25th on the Race-Three grid he finished 17th.
Adam’s day was even more challenging. Having equalled his season’s-best qualifying performance with sixth spot on Saturday, he was hit at the chicane in Race One while lying sixth – right behind Stephen – and sustained a puncture, dropping him to 18th.
The Lancashire racer climbed into the points in Race Two before a turbo pipe came loose and forced two additional pitstops that cost several laps and left him unclassified. He was 18th from the back of the grid in Race Three.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 7/10
DRIVERS
1/ Ash Sutton – 310 points
2/ Tom Ingram – 273
3/ Jake Hill – 260
4/ Colin Turkington – 229
5/ Dan Cammish – 220
6/ Josh Cook – 191
9/ Adam Morgan – 126
11/ Stephen Jelley – 98
MANUFACTURERS
1/ BMW – 579 points
2/ Ford – 568
3/ Hyundai – 497
4/ Toyota – 392
TEAMS
1/ NAPA Racing UK – 525 points
2/ Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 – 406
3/ Team BMW – 390
4/ One Motorsport with Starline Racing – 313
5/ Toyota GAZOO Racing UK – 282
6/ Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport – 269
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