The list of 2024 BTCC race winners continues to grow after Jake Hill claimed a commanding lights-to-flag triumph in the opener at Snetterton.
The Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport star scored his 13th BTCC success, becoming the fifth different race winner of the season so far.
Hill bounced back from a challenging Brands Hatch last time out to take pole position in Norfolk yesterday, and he duly backed that up with a dominant display around the 2.97-mile circuit.
The battle for the other places on the podium kicked off almost immediately as NAPA Racing UK's Ash Sutton slotted into second, whilst Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR's Bobby Thompson blasted into fourth behind Team BMW stablemate Adam Morgan.
Morgan's pace seemed to fade by mid-distance as Thompson cruised by, before the latter focused on hunting down Sutton's #1 Ford Focus.
The moment eventually came as the new striking purple BMW blasted by Sutton on the start/finish straight to secure second.
Third still represented an impressive result for championship leader Sutton, as it confirmed his seventh successive podium to kick off his title defence.
Morgan continued to be demoted down the order as the likes of Dan Cammish (NAPA Racing UK), Andrew Watson (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK) and Tom Ingram (Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS) also got by. Ingram made the most ground of any driver as he expertly picked off a number of cars one-by-one, having started 13th on the grid.
Colin Turkington (Team BMW), Rob Huff (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK) and Dan Rowbottom (NAPA Racing UK) completed the top ten. Turkington made early progress but he was eventually caught and passed by Ingram, Huff did well on the Goodyear medium tyre, whilst Rowbottom couldn't make his late race pressure tell in his battle with the Toyota ahead of him.
The action continues LIVE on ITV4 with the second race scheduled to start at 1425 before the finale commences at 1710... both races will also be streamed live via the ITV Sport TikTok channel.
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, said: "The car was just absolutely beautiful to drive. I can't thank Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport enough, they've given me a car that is just absolutely awesome. It was just one of those nice easy race wins, they don't happen very often, but I'd like to think I controlled it nicely and brought it home.
"The car has been through a lot of development over the winter and this is just the best it's felt by such a long way. I want to say a little hello to my little boy, 'Jude, I know you're watching mate!'.
"It's fantastic for Bobby (Thompson) there to finish second in his first race with us, it also gives me a little bit of backup for the next one."
Snetterton – Race 1 – Classification
P/ | No/ | Name/ | Entry/ | Laps/ | Time/ | Gap/ | Best/ | On/ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 24 | Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 12 | 23:35.164 | 1:56.787 | 3 | |
2 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR | 12 | 23:37.086 | 1.922 | 1:56.839 | 3 |
3 | 1 | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | 12 | 23:39.173 | 4.009 | 1:57.174 | 12 |
4 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | 12 | 23:40.294 | 5.13 | 1:56.791 | 12 |
5 | 11 | Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | 12 | 23:43.185 | 8.021 | 1:57.042 | 7 |
6 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 12 | 23:43.934 | 8.77 | 1:56.404 | 12 |
7 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | 12 | 23:47.205 | 12.041 | 1:56.930 | 3 |
8 | 20 | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | 12 | 23:54.988 | 19.824 | 1:58.019 | 3 |
9 | 12 | Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | 12 | 23:57.383 | 22.219 | 1:57.734 | 10 |
10 | 32 | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | 12 | 23:57.590 | 22.426 | 1:57.685 | 11 |
11 | 14 | Ronan PEARSON | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 12 | 24:02.044 | 26.88 | 1:58.165 | 10 |
12 | 40 | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | 12 | 24:04.692 | 29.528 | 1:58.207 | 5 |
13 | 88 | Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | 12 | 24:08.749 | 33.585 | 1:58.499 | 9 |
14 | 66 | Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | 12 | 24:11.392 | 36.228 | 1:58.778 | 10 |
15 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 12 | 24:12.490 | 37.326 | 1:58.417 | 12 |
16 | 77 | Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | 12 | 24:15.487 | 40.323 | 1:58.363 | 10 |
17 | 18 | Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing With Bartercard | 12 | 24:32.225 | 57.061 | 1:58.515 | 5 |
18 | 222 | Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | 12 | 24:37.920 | 1:02.756 | 1:57.696 | 11 |
19 | 29 | Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | 12 | 25:14.579 | 1:39.415 | 2:00.612 | 10 |
20 | 22 | Nick HALSTEAD | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 11 | 24:18.048 | 1 Lap | 2:00.743 | 8 |
21 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | 11 | 24:25.672 | 1 Lap | 1:58.721 | 10 |