Despite steady morning drizzle, Hill was the only driver among the top nine to take the start on wet-weather Goodyears and had qualified his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport in fourth position.
But he was already effectively up to third by the start, after poleman Mikey Doble inexplicably emulated an identical gaffe at the same venue from Laurent Aiello in 1999 when he went past the grid onto a second green-flag lap – he therefore had to start his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra from the rear of the pack, and afterwards described the error as "a miscommunication".
