Luck deserts Cameron Hill at NTI Townsville 500

Repco Supercars Championship rookie Cameron Hill continued his learnings at the NTI Townsville 500 as luck failed to play its part in the final 250km race of the weekend.

Hill arrived in Townsville with confidence after undertaking a pre-event rookie test and returned to a venue, which has been kind to him in the past including a Dunlop Super2 podium last year.

Qualifying for Race 16 on Saturday was a tough affair as Hill didn’t quite get his lap right and with the closeness in the Repco Supercars Championship this season, was forced to start 23rd.

The race proved productive for Hill as he improved to 17th by the end of the opening 250km event and took some learnings into Sunday.

Reset after a mixed Saturday, Hill qualified in 16th for the second leg, but dropped back off the start. Managing his tyres during this opening stint combined with a lucky break to pit just before a safety car elevated Hill to the top five where he sat for 10 laps before taking service for a second time.

Contact on lap 1 led to bodywork coming away on Hill’s Truck Assist Racing Chevrolet Camaro and a meatball flag was displayed when the rear diffuser came free.

It necessitated a long pit stop dropping Hill back 22nd four laps down on the leader.

Further promise was displayed by Hill as the focus now turns to the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight at SMSP on July 28-30.

QUOTES
Cameron Hill
#35 Truck Assist Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“It’s been a massive weekend here in Townsville,” Hill summarised.

“It was a mixed weekend for me, a weak qualifying on Saturday was followed by a good race as I moved from 23rd to 17th.

“The second race had it all, I started 16th and fell back as I didn’t get a good start. We looked after my tyres in the first stint and started to move forward. A safety car brought us back into contention as we had just pitted, so we stayed out and gained a lot of track position to be inside the top five for some of the race.

“It was awesome to run up the front and if you look at the drivers, we were in the same strategy with all who were in the top 10 at the end of the race. If we hadn’t received the meatball flag for the rear of the car coming off, who knows where we may have been able to finish.

“It was great to have some of my supporters here including from Supaglass Industries and NTI as the naming rights partner of the Townsville event, so I enjoyed the additional support this weekend.”