Jake Hill holds his hands up to Croft errors

Jake Hill was left to wonder what might have been after two costly errors hampered his chances of retaining a top three position in the BTCC standings at Croft.

The WSR driver had gone into the summer break on a high following a stunning weekend at Oulton Park in his Laser Tools-backed BMW, but would be unable to replicate that pace as the NAPA Racing Fords proved to be the cars to beat.

Hill had managed to qualify sixth on the grid for the opening race before fighting his way ahead of team-mate Colin Turkington to take fifth in race one, but then ran wide on the exit of turn one in race two whilst running in sixth spot – leaving him to finish back in eleventh.

Missing out on the reverse grid as a result, with the top six being switched, Hill was trying to work his way up the order when he ran wide at Barcroft whilst dicing with Dan Rowbottom, resulting in another spin.

A late move on Rory Butcher allowed Hill to reclaim seventh by the finish, but he admitted he simply hadn’t had the pace he was hoping for across the weekend

“Ultimately, our trip to Croft was a frustrating one and we weren’t able to score the results we know we are capable of achieving as a team,” he said. “The red-flagged qualifying meant we weren’t able to deliver a lap time when the track was at its quickest, and this left us with work to do on Sunday.

“Unfortunately, two mistakes on my end in the races cost us and I’m sorry to the team for those errors. At the end of the day, we want to be battling at the front like we were at Oulton Park and this weekend we just didn’t have the straight-line pace to compete for wins and the podium places.”

Hill will now look to return to form when the series heads for Knockhill next time out, having gone well in Scotland last year.

“Heading to Knockhill next time out fills me with motivation to bounce back and get to where I know we can be,” he said. “Last year, it was our best weekend and I’m confident we can return to the front when we head to Scotland in two weeks.

“As always, a huge thank you to the guys and girls at Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport and WSR for their efforts this weekend.”