Jake Hill battles to race three win

Jake Hill brought the curtain down on the 2023 season with victory in the final BTCC race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

Hill jumped up into second at the start when Dan Rowbottom was slow away from the line, but then lost position to Josh Cook just before the safety car was deployed to recover the car of Aiden Moffat – which was stuck on the circuit with damaged suspension.

After the race restarted, Cook hit the front through Sheene to move into the lead ahead of Jelley only for the BMW man to then fight back on the following lap to move back into P1.

It was only for a matter of corners however, with Cook back ahead before the end of the sixth lap.

The following lap saw the key moment, as Cook and Jelley went side-by-side into Westfield and Hill saw his chance to dive inside the pair to hit the front.

After another caution caused by George Gamble hitting Jade Edwards at Druids, Hill held on at the front to grab the win from Cook and Jelley, with Tom Ingram fighting his way through to fourth with a late move on Dan Rowbottom.

Ingram had earlier survived side-by-side contact with Ash Sutton on the Cooper Straight which saw Sutton forced to pit with a barrier stick on the front of his car.

Rowbottom took fifth place ahead of Ricky Collard, with Dan Lloyd and Adam Morgan rounding out the top eight.

Sutton would return to the track to finish in 13th place and with Dan Cammish in ninth, the Alliance Racing-run Ford squad beat WSR/BMW to the manufacturers title – with tenth for Colin Turkington alongside Hill’s win not being enough to allow BMW to retain the crown.