2024 British Touring Car champion Jake Hill will be back in the 2025 season to defend his title behind the wheel of a BMW 330e M Sport. Once again, the car will be run by West Surrey Racing (WSR) under the Laser Tolls Racing with MB Motorsports name.
Hill had a great season in 2024, capturing the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) drivers’ championship with sixteen podium finishes in 30 races, which included eight wins. Hill will carry #1 on his door as the defending champion. He has been with the WSR team since 2022 and now has seventeen victories and 41 podium finishes driving a BMW prepared and run by WSR.
One change coming to the series for 2025 is that the cars will no longer be powered by hybrid engines as they have been since 2018. Instead, the cars will be powered by 100% sustainable fuel after a rule change made by series organizers. The new fuel, named Hiperflo ECO102 R100, is 100% fossil-free, with all components derived from synthetic and biological (i.e. non-crude) sources. Turbo boost will be increased in the cars to make up for the power loss from no longer having a hybrid unit, and the cars will also be lighter.
Hill is looking forward to coming back to defend his title. “I was so proud that, as a team, we managed to take the crown in 2024 after going close so many times before,” he said. “To achieve it in the way we did in a thrilling title race that went right down to the wire made it even better. To put it simply, there was nowhere else I wanted to be in 2025 than to be lining up on the grid once again for Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport in a WSR-run BMW.”
The other drivers in the WSR program are yet to be announced. The 2025 BTCC season gets underway at Donington Park on April 26th-27th.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy BTCC]
