Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport's Jake Hill claimed a stunning victory in a quite bizarre and frenetic Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race two at Snetterton.
A huge storm descended onto the Norfolk track just minutes prior to the original start time, which caused a delay while water was removed from the surface, particularly down through the Bomb Hole section.
Incredibly, the track was basked in glorious sunshine shortly after with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK's Rob Huff and Restart Racing's Chris Smiley being the only two drivers to gamble on Goodyear slick tyres from the start, but at the end of lap one an absolute gaggle of cars came in to do the same – including title contenders Ash Sutton (NAPA Racing UK), Tom Ingram (Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS) and Colin Turkington (Team BMW).
The drama had already started on-track too with pole-sitter Hill and his BMW stablemate Bobby Thompson (Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR) receiving a ten second penalty for jumping the start.
The race win therefore almost looked impossible for Hill, but he immediately set about stretching the gap at the head of the field, and when rain began to fall again later in the contest the race started to swing back the way of the Kent driver.
Hill was sublime in the wet conditions and had no right to pull away by more than 15 seconds from the chasing pack, as he ensured that his penalty would not prevent in his unstoppable victory.
NAPA Racing UK's Dan Cammish took second ahead of LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ's Josh Cook, with the latter impressively rising from 14th on the grid.
Mikey Doble (Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing), Tom Chilton (Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS) and Andrew Watson (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK) were next in the order, the latter spinning away an almost certain podium late in the race, whilst Thompson's penalty eventually saw him slot into seventh.
Seven different teams occupied the top seven positions, whilst Aiden Moffat (LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ), Sam Osborne (NAPA Racing UK) and Daryl DeLeon (Duckhams Racing With Bartercard) rounded out the top ten.
There was more reason to be cheerful for Hill when championship leader Sutton crashed out late on, as Hill hauled himself into joint second in the standings alongside Team BMW's Turkington, with Ingram now dropping to fourth.
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, said: "That means absolutely everything, probably the best and most professional race of my life. The car was absolutely awesome, it was like I was driving a car in the dry. I knew I had the penalty so I just wanted to give it absolutely everything. The car is great and I'd like to think I'm doing a pretty good job too. I am so proud of everyone and I'm proud of myself, which is nice. The Laser Beemer strikes again!
Snetterton – Race 2 – Classification
P/ | No/ | Name/ | Entry/ | Laps/ | Time/ | Gap/ | Best/ | On/ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 24 | Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 12 | 26:43.848 | 2:08.749 | 5 | |
2 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | 12 | 26:50.108 | 6.26 | 2:10.479 | 4 |
3 | 66 | Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | 12 | 26:53.822 | 9.974 | 2:10.158 | 6 |
4 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 12 | 26:54.544 | 10.696 | 2:10.687 | 5 |
5 | 88 | Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | 12 | 26:58.642 | 14.794 | 2:10.622 | 5 |
6 | 11 | Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | 12 | 27:00.474 | 16.626 | 2:10.319 | 5 |
7 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR | 12 | 27:00.491 | 16.643 | 2:10.644 | 6 |
8 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | 12 | 27:07.279 | 23.431 | 2:11.576 | 6 |
9 | 77 | Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | 12 | 27:10.671 | 26.823 | 2:11.350 | 4 |
10 | 18 | Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing With Bartercard | 12 | 27:13.013 | 29.165 | 2:12.440 | 6 |
11 | 29 | Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | 12 | 27:17.022 | 33.174 | 2:12.828 | 6 |
12 | 40 | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | 12 | 27:52.198 | 1:08.350 | 2:05.876 | 6 |
13 | 222 | Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | 12 | 28:16.006 | 1:32.158 | 2:08.271 | 6 |
14 | 12 | Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | 12 | 28:17.587 | 1:33.739 | 2:08.117 | 6 |
15 | 20 | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | 12 | 28:35.453 | 1:51.605 | 2:08.981 | 6 |
16 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 12 | 28:36.120 | 1:52.272 | 2:07.986 | 6 |
17 | 32 | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | 11 | 26:37.784 | 1 Lap | 2:12.280 | 11 |
18 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | 11 | 26:42.601 | 1 Lap | 2:11.205 | 5 |
19 | 14 | Ronan PEARSON | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 11 | 27:03.663 | 1 Lap | 2:12.901 | 5 |
20 | 1 | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | 11 | 27:26.287 | 1 Lap | 2:08.094 | 6 |