Perseverance prevails for Cameron Hill on the Gold Coast

Truck Assist Racing’s Cameron Hill continues to impress in his maiden Repco Supercars Championship season following a promising performance on the Gold Coast.

At the penultimate event on the Supercars calendar, Hill returned to a circuit he had previous experience at although not in one of these V8 beasts.

The Gold Coast street circuit is a challenging circuit due to its many features including high kerbs, tight confines to concrete walls and its high braking areas ensure there is no rest for the driver.

With limited running through two 30 minute practice sessions on Friday, Hill was building his knowledge and confidence around the 2.6km circuit.

It was straight into qualifying on Saturday morning where Hill placed 22nd as kerb strikes became the theme of the weekend for not only the Canberran, but for the majority of the field due to the removal of tyre bundles.

Hill’s Truck Assist Racing Chevrolet Camaro proved to be strong in the race pace department as he climbed to inside the top 15 until a collision with another competitor forced him to enter the pits to repair steering damage. Hill returned to the race to score points as he crossed the line 23rd.

Sunday provided promising signs throughout as Hill continued to display superb race pace to climb from 24th to 15th by the conclusion to finish right behind teammate Jack Le Brocq. Qualifying was again hampered by kerb strikes as heads up driving was needed almost immediately as Hill was required to avoid an opening lap incident.

From there, Hill demonstrated perseverance to move up a race high nine positions and end the weekend with good momentum heading to the final event in Adelaide.

Hill will conclude his rookie season in Australia’s top-tier title on the mixed street and permanent Adelaide Parklands course on November 23-24.

QUOTES

Cameron Hill,
#35 Truck Assist Racing, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“It started off slowly probably for me, I had a bit of work to do on Friday,” reflected Hill.

“In the Saturday race I really felt like I found my groove. The times were really improving and I felt like we had a good car, but unfortunately we had steering dramas.

“On Sunday, I made a mess of qualifying with kerb hops every time, which was a real bugger. We started off the back again in 24th, but I drove forward to 15th. It was a really, really cool race where I picked off a few guys and found my groove.

“The Gold Coast 500 is an awesome event; the atmosphere was unreal. It was packed, it was hard to get anywhere because the paddock was so full of people. It’s really, really good to be here racing, I’ve enjoyed the whole event.

“Massive shout out to the crew at Matt Stone Racing. The team as usual just put in an amazing effort, the car was quick and I’m really looking forward to getting to Adelaide for the season finale.”