Jake Hill says his British Touring Car title defence has now begun after bouncing back from a disappointing opening round to claim victory at Brands Hatch.

The Platts Heath racer entered the event sixth in the standings - 26 points off leader Ash Sutton - after struggling with set-up issues on his BMW 330i M Sport at Donington Park last month.

But the 31-year-old is now up to third, just 12 adrift of the four-time champion, after sailing to top-spot in the first race and finishing second in the race-three finale.

Hill, who claimed an eighth-place finish in the middle encounter, says a “fantastic job” by his West Surrey Racing (WSR) team in the two-week gap between events meant he immediately felt “a bit more hooked up” in the first free practice session in West Kingsdown.

The removal of the hybrid system this season has lightened all cars by 55kg, and the rear-wheel-drive BMWs struggled at Donington with balance issues.

But with a revised set-up for round two, Hill claimed his first BTCC pole position at his home circuit on Saturday afternoon, breaking the lap record with a 46.493sec lap on the 1.2-mile Indy circuit.

He duly converted it into a lights-to-flag victory in an uneventful first race on Sunday, leading home team-mate and series rookie Charles Rainford.

“We've just done an amazing job as a team since Donington,” Hill said.

“The engineers have done a fantastic job to try to work out what the issue was, and we've conquered it a bit, but I'd say we're not completely there.

“I still think the Hyundai, when it has all of its boost deployment, is a quicker car.

“So we've got a bit of work to do but we're in the right direction and it's been a fantastic weekend with lots of learning done.

“The title defence has started now, which is good, so hopefully we can keep going.”

Due to his race-one victory, Hill was forced to use the slower hard tyre and had the least Toca Turbo Boost (TTB) of anyone in the second encounter.

He still managed to lead the first seven laps but was passed by team-mate Daryl DeLeon - another series debutant - at Paddock Hill Bend following a lengthy safety car period.

Rainford, also on the hard rubber, then passed Hill for second with a forceful move at Druids, but both began to fall down the order as their tyres faded.

Hill eventually finished eighth, one spot behind Rainford, while Anglo-Filipino DeLeon, on the soft tyre, took his first win in the category.

In the race-three reversed-grid finale, WSR enjoyed yet more success as Rainford led Hill home to complete a hat-trick of victories for the squad.

Hill had lost second place to Rainford at Surtees on the opening lap after challenging early leader Dan Rowbottom, but got past the Napa Racing UK-run Ford Focus driver on lap nine at Paddock Hill Bend.

He then set about hunting down Rainford, who had passed Rowbottom at the same corner, but ran out of TTB with five laps remaining and was forced to avoid backmarker Max Hall’s Cupra Leon at Clark Curve which cost time.

The delay allowed Hill’s former Ginetta rival Tom Ingram (Hyundai i30 N) to close in, and the pair became embroiled in a bumper-to-bumper scrap over the final three laps.

“I was getting a bit bored of always being overtaken by him in those last-lap fights that we've had over the years,” said Hill, who kept the 2022 champion at bay despite a lack of TTB.

“So I decided to stand my ground a little bit more, and we had a good touring car fight.”

Hill’s race-one victory was the 133rd in the BTCC for WSR, making them the most successful team in series history in terms of race wins, ahead of Triple Eight.

Team boss Dick Bennetts says his squad are now “on the right track” following “a lot of soul searching” after the Donington event.

"The car wasn’t in balance before,” the New Zealander said.

"And one of the problems we had was that Jake was the only driver continuing with us, with three other new drivers coming in this year.

“That made life a bit more difficult. But we put our heads down, worked out what we thought was wrong, and made a lot of changes to all four cars. Now, suddenly, we’re back at the sharp end again.”

Bennetts says the reason for the lack of pace in round one was “really hard to detect”.

"It wasn’t just weight distribution, it was more than that," he explained.

"The guys have been very busy since Donington doing a lot of work.

"With no testing, we used computers and old experience - I got my old books out from 2019 to 2021 before we were hybrid, and back to the same base weight.

“The rest of the season is going to be hard work still - we’re good round here, but we’re going to have to work hard for Snetterton and Thruxton.”

Sutton (Ford Focus) now holds a five-point lead over Ingram at the top of the standings after taking a best finish of third in race two.

The BTCC heads to Snetterton in Norfolk for its next round on May 24-25, with the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit hosting the season finale on October 4-5.