At 2011’s final BTCC meeting, held at ‘the home of British Motorsport’ the legendary Silverstone Circuit, 17 year-old Goudhurst racing driver Jake Hill ended the year in style by taking two superb victories in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup’s G50 class.

Having set the fastest time in Friday morning practice, Hill was embroiled in a fierce battle for pole position, the top eight drivers covered by a scant 0.19 seconds, with Hill lining up 4th in the Tollbar Racing-prepared machine.

A solid start saw him fighting for position with Andrew Richardson, whilst second place man Rattenbury was forced wide, allowing Hill to gain a place on lap one.

Meanwhile heavy contact between Louise Richardson and Aaron Williamson saw them both retire, with Richardson in some distress after the impact.

The race was stopped as a precaution and Richardson was taken to hospital, being released that night with severe bruising to her hip and legs from the impact.

At the restart, Hill immediately pressured Andrew Richardson, sweeping past on the run down to Becketts and into 2nd place, quickly chasing down leader Johnston and in an almost identical move, charged past into the lead.

Breaking the lap record, Hill gradually eased away to take his third win of the season, his 16th career victory, maintaining his record of a podium at every race this year.

“That was hard work; Andrew made it really hard for me to pass, but Mark was tough but fair. The car was brilliant again – massive thanks to Mike, Mark, Jim, Oscar, James, Paul and Mary. And it’s my mum Tina’s 40th today and she’s here to see me win. Her and Dad have been so supportive. It’s a great feeling!” smiled Jake.

Starting Sunday’s race from pole position – proudly displaying the logos of V1 Championship.com and Fuji Film, with thanks to Eddie and George for their support, and of course MMC Insurance Brokers – Hill immediately edged clear, with a safety car being deployed early for Jody Fannin’s car to be recovered – then stamped his authority on the race, maintaining a solid gap between Richardson and himself to complete the double, making it four wins in 2011 and ending the year 4th overall.

“To take four wins and a total of 17 podiums – plus 4 fastest laps and pole position at Brands GP is a pretty pleasing record. We had some bad luck, I made some mistakes too, but overall for my first season in a 300bhp car it’s been good. Thanks to everyone who has gone out of their way to help – there are SO many people I’d run out of space – I hope I did ok, and I’m determined to keep making progress in 2012” Hill added.

The following day though the terrible news of the loss of Dan Wheldon in the final IndyCar race of 2011 at Las Vegas filtered through.

“I’d like to dedicate my wins to Dan. He was a friend of my Dad, we were very lucky to know him. He was a real superstar. Just wanna say ‘Goodbye Champ’….