Solid Sunday helps Cameron Hill recover from 50th milestone race

Cameron Hill has overcome a challenging milestone race in Surfers Paradise to end the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on a positive note.

The Canberran entered the penultimate round of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship on a rich run of form that has seen him in the hunt for the top 10 on the overall standings.

His return to the picturesque beachside city didn’t get off to the strongest start as he was unable to get the most out of the #4 Chevrolet Camaro in either one of Friday’s practice sessions.

With Hill set to tick over 50 races in the main game on Saturday afternoon, he enjoyed a decent run in Qualifying that saw him just miss out on the top 10 shootout in the final stages - eventually settling for P16 overall.

Unfortunately Saturday’s milestone was not the result he was hoping for - a promising first stint where he made up multiple positions on the opening laps ended up with him facing the wrong way after an error when pushing hard to make a pass.

While he was able to get racing again, he eventually crossed the line in P23.

Sunday proved a brand new day for the Matt Stone Racing driver, and although he qualified in P20, the day’s dramatic 250km race proved far more successful.

Avoiding any damage on an opening lap pile up, Hill instantly made up a handful of positions and found himself not far outside in the top 10 and carried on making up ground during the opening stints.

A slow second pit stop undid some of Hill’s good work in his opening two stints, but he still managed to finish 14th and end the race as one of the biggest movers out the whole field.

Just one race remains on the 2024 calendar, with the highly anticipated VAILO Adelaide 500 to host the season finale next month.

QUOTES

Cameron Hill
#4 Chevrolet Camaro

“It was a tough weekend for us,” said Hill.

“Saturday, we had a decent qualifying and were improving after a difficult Friday. We were running okay in the race but then I made a mistake and had to do a bit of reversing, which got the attention of a lot of people out there and was pretty cool for the fans.

“Obviously it was not the result that we were looking for, but I thought the pace was still okay, so we felt pretty good about Sunday. Unfortunately we didn't qualify anywhere near good enough and had our work cut out for us.

“We dodged all the carnage on the first lap. And then from there, we were actually having a pretty good race until a slow pit stop on that last one costs us a few spots due to a cross-threaded nut.

“All in all, it was a pretty good recovery from 20th to finish 14th and much better than last year here on the Gold Coast for me.

“The big positive for me was that I rolled out a little bit off the pace, but every session I just felt like I got more and more confident. By the end of the weekend, our pace in the race was definitely good enough for top 10.

“That was definitely something that we're really happy about. And when we come back here next year, hopefully we can start a bit quicker."