Jake Hill was on the podium last weekend at the Goodwood Revival, in what was his third visit to the historic venue this season.

Hill enjoyed success sharing the beautiful Austin Healey 100S with Jack Rawles, taking a battling Podium in the Freddie March Trophy in the Friday dusk, before racing in the St. Mary’s Trophy and RAC TT later in the weekend, taking top ten results in both events.

“I always love racing at Goodwood, and the Revival is the most famous and special Historic Motorsport event in the World, so to be invited to be part of it, and race some truly special cars is a real honour”

Friday saw Hill in action for qualifying for all three of the races he would compete in, starting with the Freddie March Trophy for Sports Cars from 1952-1955, sharing the Bill Rawles Classic Cars-prepared Healey with his friend Jack Rawles, the pair qualifying 15th after limited laps, to ‘save’ the car for the race.

Next up was qualifying in the St. Mary’s Trophy, for Touring Cars from the 1950’s, Hill racing Richard Postins’ nimble Austin A40, and qualifying 8th, but frustrated not to be higher after a mistake on his last lap.

“Conditions were mixed, so the last laps were the quickest as the track dried, and I was on a mega lap but made a mistake at Woodcote, without which I would have qualified P3 or P4 – but still a good session”

Finally in the RAC Tourist Trophy (TT) sharing with Kyle Tilley in Era Motorsport’s 1962 Tojeiro-Buick, Hill took over after Tilley had set a benchmark time, and late on set a superb 1.25.213 to qualify 5th, particularly pleasing after recent testing.

“The car is new to the team, and they have worked incredibly hard to get it working as well as they have – thanks to Kyle and the whole Era team for having me on board – great fun”

Friday evening saw the 60 minute Freddie March Trophy race, started by Rawles who had a sensational stint, quickly getting up to 4th, then having a fierce battle with Shepherd and Godard, finally getting into the lead before the driver changes, which saw Hill rejoin in 3rd place.

With 15 minutes to go and Hill chasing a podium, the heavens opened, and he skilfully slithered his way around the remaining laps to bring the car home, and take his third podium in three years in the Freddie March.

“What a brilliant drive by Jack, he did all the hard work, and I must admit driving the car in the rain for the first time was pretty tricky, so was over the moon to bring it home on the Podium. Huge ‘thank you’ to Bill, Jack, Will, Andy and the whole team for having me on board – I’ve loved it!”

A further, very wet, practice on Saturday  morning for the RAC TT also saw Hill 5th, and later on, now on a dry track, Hill took the Austin A40 into battle in the 25 minute St. Mary’s Trophy Part One.

Immediately he was in a fierce battle with 5 time Le Mans winner Emmanuele Pirro, sweeping past and then chasing after 2009 F1 World Champion, Jenson Button, gradually catching and passing his Alfa Romeo, but not without a door-banging battle first!

“Great scrap with Jenson – he could have a career in BTCC having given me a pretty hard time – but it was mega fun!”

Later on as Shedden dropped back, Hill began catching the battle for 3rd between former BTCC Champions Andrew Jordan and Tom Ingram, ultimately running out of laps and ending up a well-earned 5th place.

“So many star drivers in this race – Le Mans winners, IndyCar Champions, BTCC stars and of course an F1 Champion, so to finish well was really special. Thanks to Richard, Jim and the team for giving me the chance to race this lovely little car, so much fun!”

Later on Sunday afternoon Postins raced his A40 in ‘Part Two’ of the St. Mary’s Trophy in torrential rain, taking a solid 14th, meaning he and Hill took 10th overall on the aggregate results.

The final race of Hill’s weekend under darkening skies was the prestigious RAC TT for GT cars from 1958 to 1964, with Kyle Tilley starting the 60 minute race in the Tojeiro-Buick from 5th place.

As the 29 car grid blasted away, Tilley was hit by Jack Tetley and spun across the track and into the tyres, quickly recovering and charging back into the action, but by now some 25 seconds behind the pack.

Some determined driving saw him make up two places before a huge accident involving the similar Tojeiro of Afschein Fatemi – which he was lucky to emerge unscathed from – ultimately caused the race to be stopped.

During the stoppage the ex Jackie Stewart No.25 Tojeiro was brought into the pits for repairs, meaning at the restart Tilley would start from the pits, just as the rain began falling heavily.

Battling hard, he brought the car in to hand over to Hill, now up to P21, and a slick stop saw them make up time, with Hill then lapping quickly in treacherous conditions, and working his way up to a superb 9th place finish.

“So very frustrating at the start when Kyle was hit – but he did a great job to recover, and the team got us out again quickly. We had tyres that were great in the dry, but not ideal for the heavy rain, so it was edgy to say the least – but getting a top-ten after the start we had was fantastic. I always love driving with Era Motorsport, and they have worked so very hard to get the car as competitive as it was this weekend. Thanks as always for having me”

“Revival always brings out the stars, and there were so many incredible drivers and riders competing as always, but for me one of the nicest memories I will take away is chatting to Jacques Villeneuve on Saturday just before practice in the TT – turns out he’s a massive Scalextric fan like me and saw the logos on my suit and we started chatting. A very cool guy”

Hill now heads to Silverstone next weekend for the penultimate weekend of this season’s Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, where he will aim to return to the podium, at a circuit that has seen him Win at for the previous four seasons.

“It’s always great racing at Silverstone – hopefully the improved pace of my Laser Tools Racing MB Motorsport BMW 330 M-Sport should give us a great chance of more success – so I am really looking forward to seeing what we can achieve”

Images courtesy of Goodwood, Era Motorsport and Simon Hill