WSR and Jake Hill will begin the defence of his British Touring Car Championship title from the fourth row of the grid after a hard-fought qualifying session for the opening race of the season at Donington Park.
The Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport driver and his WSR stablemates took a measured approach across Saturday as all four worked together to refine balance issues experienced by their BMW 330i M Sports around the East Midlands venue.
Jake, who could break the 2000 career-points mark during Sunday’s triple header, made numerous set-up changes during the day and improved the speed of his BMW through practice and qualifying.
Frustratingly he missed a spot in the Q3 pole position by just two hundredths of a second and will start eighth as a result.
Charles Rainford belied his lack of experience of touring car racing to progress into Q2 and qualify 12th for his BTCC debut for LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR.
Aiden Moffat, in the second LKQ car, lost vital track time in both practice sessions due to technical issues, and began qualifying on the back foot as a result. He narrowly missed the cut for Q2 and will start Race One from 20th spot.
That will put him directly behind another new WSR recruit, Daryl DeLeon, who starts 18th after he – like Aiden – had a fast lap disallowed during Q1 for exceeding track limits.
Sunday’s three races will be broadcast live on ITV4 from 1100 with coverage also available outside the UK and North America on the BTCC YouTube channel.
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, said: “It’s been a mixed day. We made quite a few changes to the BMW after Media Day and had some good improvements during today. The reality is that despite this, we are lacking a bit of speed against our championship rivals. I’m kind of okay with eighth in qualifying but would obviously rather be in the top three, like I’ve been here for the past few years here. We just have to work on things and see what we can do for race day.”
Charles Rainford, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR, said: “Today’s been a bit of a culture shock, which I kind of expected with it being my BTCC debut. I love the format of driving and the amount of track time you get, and I made Q2, which I’m quite happy with, especially as I was only two tenths away from Jake. Roll on tomorrow.”
Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR, said: “It was a difficult day. We did no laps in FP1 due to an ECU issue that’s out of the team’s hands. In FP2 with a new ECU we had a separate issue so when we came into qualifying we were really on the back foot and not knowing what to expect – apart from a bad qualifying session. All in all, a hard day, but it’s still good to be back.”
Daryl DeLeon, WSR, said: “Qualifying was a little bit of a struggle and a few set-up things meant the car didn’t really go our way, but tomorrow is a long day and 2025 is a long season so that means we have plenty of opportunities to get stronger. Tomorrow’s a new day.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “It was a tough qualifying today, but we do have three new drivers in the team. Even with Jake’s time he says the BMW feels pretty good and Charles has done a good job to get into Q2 on his BTCC debut. We’re going to sit down tonight and debrief; when that happens we usually end up with a good car for race day so we’ll see how we go.”
