Newly crowned British Touring Car champion Jake Hill plans to remain at West Surrey Racing in 2025 to bid for a second successive title.
The 30-year-old Kentishman has now spent three years at the Sunbury team and has raced his BMW 330e M Sport for the past two seasons under the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport banner on a commercial basis under a deal put together by the MB management company of ex-Formula 1 racer and Le Mans 24 Hours winner Mark Blundell.
Hill’s move to become part of the MB management stable came after the two teamed up together in the BTCC in 2019 for Blundell’s farewell season as a racer at the AmD-run Trade Price Cars Audi squad, and Hill’s subsequent spell at AmD’s MB Motorsport Honda line-up.
“I’m just waiting for a deal from MB,” said Hill. “But ultimately I’m just incredibly grateful to be a part of that team with West Surrey.
“It’s a fantastic collaboration we have here. It works for us commercially and it works for us from a performance point of view.”
Hill said that he owes his success to AmD boss Shaun Hollamby, who gave him the opportunity for 2019, as well as his father – ex-Renault Spider Cup and Formula First battler Simon Hill.
“I thought my career was done in 2018 when I pulled out halfway through [after a breakdown in relations with Team Hard], and then Shaun Hollamby saved the day,” he said. “It was a mixture of Shaun and then me being team-mates with Mark that started this journey again.
“Really, I owe the latter part of my career to Shaun for taking a risk with me and giving me a cheap enough drive that we just could somehow get the money together to do it, but ultimately, Dad’s my real superhero. He just never gave up. That’s what dads do, right?”
The title success means that Hill’s reputation for being fast but mistake-prone should be consigned to history.
The 2024 BTCC crown is the first since 2019 to be won by someone other than Ash Sutton or Tom Ingram – generally acknowledged as the top two drivers of the past few years.
“I think we can all agree that me and Tom these last two rounds have been inseparable,” said Hill.
“We’ve both done as good a job as each other, and ultimately the conditions [wet in the final race at Brands] just played into my hands and to my car as well.
“I just hope that now people see me on a level term with Tom and Ash because I feel that I haven’t been over the last few years, but hopefully I’ve made a statement, especially with that last race against Tom to secure my name in history.”
The battle continued a fight with Ingram that has been ongoing since they fought for the Ginetta Junior crown in 2010, when Hill was 16 years old and Ingram 17.
“I’ve got to take my hat off to Tom,” said Hill.
“He’s a champion for a reason and he’s a top bloke, and it’s been a privilege being in this championship fight with him.
“And finally after 15 years of racing him I’ve got my first championship and I’ve beaten him to it!
“When David [Addison, ITV commentator who was hooked up live to Hill on the cooldown lap] said it [being BTCC champion] on the radio for the first time, I just bawled my eyes out mate to be totally honest with you.
“It’s just a massive, overwhelming feeling of emotions. You can’t quite comprehend what you’ve just achieved – you’ve won the biggest British championship, and also you have to remember as well that it’s a bit different because this is my first ever championship.
“I’ve never won a championship in anything I’ve done, so to win the British Touring Car Championship as my first means so much more.
“I just have to thank everybody, and specifically my team-mate Colin [Turkington, who played rear-gunner for Hill at the final two rounds]. He’s helped me so much to achieve this. He’s played an amazing team game – I can’t thank him enough really.”
