Jake Hill
Jake Hill (born 22 February 1994) is a British racing driver who is currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for MB Motorsport. He is the son of racing driver and motorsport commentator Simon Hill and has also driven for Team HARD, Rob Austin Racing, Motorbase Performance and Trade Price Cars Racing.
Jake Hill | |
---|---|
Nationality | British |
Born | Tunbridge Wells, Kent (United Kingdom) | February 22, 1994
Related to | Simon Hill |
British Touring Car Championship career | |
Debut season | 2013 |
Current team | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square |
Car number | 24 |
Former teams | Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing Exocet Racing Addison Lee Motorbase, |
Starts | 140 |
Wins | 1 |
Podiums | 9 |
Poles | 0 |
Fastest laps | 1 |
Best finish | 7th in 2020 |
Previous series | |
2008-2010 2011-2012 | Ginetta Junior Championship Ginetta GT Supercup |
Racing career
Ginetta Junior Championship
Hill was born in Tunbridge Wells. After a short karting career, he began car racing in 2008, having signed with Tollbar Racing to tackle the Ginetta Junior Championship Winter Series. Hill finished the series as the top rookie and fourth overall.[1] This led to Hill joining the main championship in 2009. Despite not racing the full season, Hill took three wins, five Pole Positions, five fastest laps and five podiums and led every race he competed in.
The following season saw the début of the Ginetta G40 in the championship, replacing the previous Ginetta G20. 2010 was just as successful for Hill, which saw him take a further 10 wins, 13 Podiums, 8 Pole Positions and 9 Fastest Lsp on his way to finishing second in the championship to Tom Ingram, after being docked points early in the season.
Ginetta GT Supercup
In 2011, Hill made the step up into a Ginetta G50, racing in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup. Hill secured four class wins during this season, and 17 Podiums in 27 races
Hill only had a partial campaign in 2012, but still took a single overall win in the championship and six podiums
British Touring Car Championship
2013 saw Hill make his début in the BTCC whilst substituting for absent Addison Lee Motorbase driver Liam Griffin at the Croft round of the championship. Hill took a Jack Sears Trophy class win in the first round of the meeting.
Hill joined Rob Austin Racing prior to the final round of the 2013 season at Brands Hatch, replacing Will Bratt and qualifying 10th, scoring points in all three races and outscoring and out qualifying his race-winning teammate Rob Austin all weekend.[2]
Jake is a BRDC Rising Star. Jake started racing in 2002 in Cadet Karting, he has continued his career by racing in Ginetta Juniors rising up to Ginetta GT Supercup. He has driven for Motorbase Performance, Exocet Racing and AMD Tuning (also competed in British GT with AMD), Porsche Carerra Cup GB scoring three podiums in four races, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at Silverstone in 2015 and in the BTCC before now finally getting a full season with TeamHard.
In 2016 he regularly out qualified his teammates, scored points on 17 occasions, qualified 10th at Donington Park, 11th at Croft and Silverstone, Won the Dunlop #ForeverForward award for most places gained at Oulton Park, finished in the top-ten on 6 occasions, finished 6th overall at Croft having passed Mat Jackson and held Rob Collard at bay for the entire race. Hill finished 5th at Silverstone and in 'Motorsport News' review of the season was voted 6th by the BTCC Team Managers, based on his performances on a limited budget with an older chassis. He also was voted 'HiQ Driver of the Day' at Silverstone by the BTCC fans.
2017 saw Hill stay with Team Hard, now in a VW CC, impressing with 5 top-ten qualifying results with a career-best of 5th at Silverstone, three points scoring finishes at Oulton Park and Snetterton, taking 7 top-ten finishes and posting the fastest time in testing at Snetterton mid-season, and the fastest lap for Independent Drivers at Silverstone.
In 2018 Team HARD expanded to four cars, with Hill now joined by Renault Clio Cup Champion Mike Bushell at Trade Price Cars Brisky Racing racing a heavily revised VW CC, with VW Cup Champion Bobby Thompson and former British GT Champion Michael Caine also running as stablemates. As well as essential support from Trade Price Cars and Brisky Racing and Team HARD, the hugely appreciated support from Rolec, Sportif Cars, Ecoflam, Danfoss, Bill Rawles Classic Cars, AWS Appliance Spares, Scoria Tech, Zynth, Jakob Ebrey Photos, P1 Nutrition, Spine Optics, Octane Hair, Tech Max and many others have made it possible for Hill to compete and at the opening meeting at Brands Hatch a charging drive in race two saw Hill score his maiden Dunlop BTCC Podium, finishing Second, and taking his and the team's first Independent Category Win, plus fastest lap for Independent Drivers.
2019 started with Hill finishing second in the first race of the year, after gambling with slick tyres on a drying track, mirroring his result from the previous year. On 30 June Hill finished first on the road during the reverse grid race at Oulton Park, but was awarded a 20-second penalty post-race for an incident with Matt Neal on the third lap. After taking points in the first two races at Knockhill, former BTCC champion Alain Menu drew Hill on pole position for race three. Hill made a superb start, managed two safety car re-starts calmly, and despite a scary moment on the final lap, came home to win first BTCC race for AmD Tuning and Trade Price Cars Racing.
For the 2020 season, Hill switched over to MB Motorsport - formed over the winter by AmD Essex joining forces with ex-F1 driver Mark Blundell - to drive a Honda Civic Type R. After a tough start to the year, Hill was able to secure multiple podium finishes through the campaign as he took his best points haul to date.
Racing Record
Complete British Touring Car Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded just in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point given all races)
References
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2013-06-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Turner, Kevin (9 October 2013). "Jake Hill to race Rob Austin Audi in 2013 BTCC Brands Hatch finale". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 9 October 2013.