BTCC Brands Hatch: Hill wins final race of 2023 after sensational pass

Hill, who started from fourth on the grid in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport, was running in third place as polesitting team-mate Stephen Jelley and third-starting Josh Cook in his One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R battled for the lead.

Cook’s engine temperature was climbing alarmingly due to grass in his radiator, and Jelley had already exchanged the lead with him on a few occasions before trying to repass the Honda with a speculative move on the outside of the high-speed Westfield.

But Hill threw his BMW onto the grass to the inside and passed both of them in one move.

Cook then drew alongside Jelley over the start-finish straight to move into second position into Graham Hill Bend.

Hill instantly built up a lead of over a second, but the second safety car of the race eradicated his advantage.

George Gamble appeared to get caught out on the brakes into Druids, and his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla clattered into the One Honda of Jade Edwards, forcing them both out of the race and triggering the caution.

Hill was undaunted, and set fastest lap after the restart, thereafter keeping Cook at arm’s length to win by 1.278s.

The local man, for whom this was the first BTCC win at his home circuit, also survived a trip to the officials as they looked into a potential track-limits breach.

“I’ve done that move many a time – not on two people mind you,” said Hill. “They were fighting, Stephen was super-racey, and I saw an opportunity and went for the move.

Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW 330e M Sport (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

“Josh pushed me towards the grass – I might have taken a bit more of it than I needed to, but I didn’t want to hit him.”

Jelley stayed close to Cook for the rest of the race, and was close behind at the finish to complete the podium.

Behind the leading trio, all of whom were on soft tyres, there was absolute warfare as the Alliance Racing Ford Focus STs of Dan Rowbottom, Dan Cammish and champion Ash Sutton scrapped it out with Bobby Thompson’s Team Hard Cupra Leon, Ricky Collard’s Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla, and the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N of Tom Ingram.

Sutton’s chances were kyboshed when he was edged onto the Cooper Straight grass when he made contact with Ingram. He was forced to the pits and recovered to 13th after the safety car.

Thompson also fell out of this group with alternator failure on the Cupra.

Rowbottom held fourth for much of the race, but a beautiful move by Ingram at Paddock with three laps remaining gave him the place from fellow medium-tyred runner Rowbottom, Collard and Dan Lloyd’s Team Hard Cupra.

Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Adam Morgan (WSR BMW) stole eighth with a forceful move on Cammish, who was left to take ninth ahead of four-time champion Colin Turkington.

Turkington was on a climb from the rear of the grid in his WSR BMW, but suffered hybrid failure. This, he believed, cost him the two positions that would have enabled BMW to win the 2023 manufacturers’ title. Instead, Alliance Racing/Ford triumphed by four points to add to Sutton’s drivers’ crown and the teams’ honour it won as NAPA Racing UK.

The first safety car was caused by Aiden Moffat parking his One Honda on Cooper Straight after contact at Druids with Mikey Doble. Within a minute of getting out of his car, the Scot had been handed a post-season beer.

BTCC Brands Hatch - Race 3 results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	18	31'34.278				22
2	J. Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	18	+1.278	1.278			18
3	S. Jelley Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	18	+1.794	0.516			16
4	T. Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+4.032	2.238			13
5	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	18	+5.356	1.324			11
6	R. Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	+6.951	1.595			10
7	D. Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils			Cupra León	18	+7.914	0.963			9
8	A. Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	18	+8.361	0.447			8
9	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	18	+8.714	0.353			7
10	C. Turkington Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	18	+8.896	0.182			6
11	D. Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	18	+8.968	0.072			5
12	D. De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	18	+9.275	0.307			4
13	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	18	+10.179	0.904			3
14	M. Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	18	+10.292	0.113			2
15	R. Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	+10.406	0.114			1
16	R. Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+10.811	0.405
17	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	18	+16.671	5.860
18	A. Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	18	+17.760	1.089
19	J. Gornall Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown			Cupra León	18	+19.571	1.811
20	N. Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+19.956	0.385
21	A. Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	17	+1 Lap	1 Lap
dnf	J. Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	8	+10 Laps	9 Laps		Retirement
dnf	G. Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	8	+10 Laps	0.331		Retirement
dnf	T. Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	7	+11 Laps	1 Lap		Retirement
dnf	B. Thompson Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown			Cupra León	7	+11 Laps	0.107		Retirement
dnf	A. Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	0				Retirement
dns	M. Crees Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils			Cupra León	0
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