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MEDIA RELEASE: February 25, 2024Personal bests highlight Cameron Hill’s Bathurst season opener The Thrifty Bathurst 500 proved a breakthrough weekend for Cameron Hill after scoring his maiden berth in a Supercars Top 10 Shootout and a personal best finish of fifth.
Returning to Matt Stone Racing for a second season following an impressive if unlucky maiden year in the Repco Supercars Championship, Hill was right on the pace immediately. Confidence was high for Hill having enjoyed plenty of seat time prior to the opening round of the season including two test days in the Tyrepower Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and a podium winning run at the previous week’s Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.
Using practice to build up to a strong run in qualifying for Race 1, Hill succeeded in this by finishing the session eighth and making his first Top 10 Shootout on a 2m 06.525s. Putting in a flawless performance on his maiden appearance in the famed one-lap dash, Hill the biggest mover to place fourth by setting a 2m 06.724s.
Making a great start from the second row, Hill settled into third for the opening stint and led multiple laps as the pit strategy played out. A minor mistake at Hell Corner led to a trip through the gravel trap just before his first stop as Hill rallied and recovered to finish fifth, his best result in his short Supercars career.
Sunday proved a tough day as a steering fault hampered Hill’s qualifying session leaving him 14th on the grid for Race 2. The problem was rectified by the Matt Stone Racing crew prior to the Race 2, but a tangle off the start line forced Hill in the pits for repairs emerging six laps down on the field. Hill finished the race and scored important points.
Preparations now focus on the support races at the Rolex Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix scheduled to take place on March 21-24.
QUOTES
Cameron Hill, #4 Tyrepower Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
“Saturday was awesome, everything came together,” said Hill.
“It shows our potential. It was a big box to tick for me to be in the shootout and to complete a pretty good lap that stood up for a while. I had a very good race, I almost threw it away, but we managed to hold on and scoring a top five was really, really cool.
“Obviously it was about the highs and lows. It’s a game of inches and we had some dramas in qualifying leaving me to complete only one run, with my lap a tenth off putting me in the shootout. That could have been so different when we got to the race where I tangled with someone before the first corner. The grid spacing is quite tight here at Bathurst and to be honest I didn’t know who hit me. It’s just one of those things.
“We won’t let Sunday define us.
“The results on Saturday came from having 12 months in Supercars under my belt as I know the cars and processes better. Getting the extra seat time helped me get comfortable really quickly, so it’s all those one percenters adding up. My intention is to maximise every opportunity that I get, and I believe we did that Saturday.
“I enjoy the Grand Prix, I always look forward to getting back there. I was still pretty green when I raced a Supercar there last year and I’ve done a lot more since then. It’s going to be a unique format we don’t normally run in Supercars, so there might be some strategy that comes with it.
“The plan is to keep the car speed there and roll on.”
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