Hill's unheralded Sunday charge adds to MSR's best ever weekend

Cameron Hill has reflected on a wild Sunday in Tasmania that saw him plummet from the rear of the field from the top ten on the opening lap, before storming back through the field.

Hill qualified ninth on Sunday, but made a mistake at the end of the first lap that sent him sailing into the gravel at turn six and a long way behind the pack.

Aided by an early Safety Car, Hill worked his way back up to 20th before being brought back into pit lane under the second safety car to switch to an aggressive tyre strategy.

The switch or strategy paid dividends, as Hill made up seven positions in the final 30 laps, and was promoted to 12th after Thomas Randle’s 15-second penalty was added post race.

Hill’s recovery drive wasn’t the only recovery drive from a Matt Stone Racing driver on Sunday, as Nick Percat finished in seventh after starting from last on the grid following a qualifying mishap.

“We had some seriously hard racing in our last outing in Tasmania,” Hill said.

“I completely stuffed the first lap, threw it off the road and we were in last place, but a safety car brought us back in the race. I got in a bit of a dog fight early on and didn't really make any ground before there was another safety car.

“We took on some more tyres and then we actually had a pretty good race from there. Went from last, back up to 12th, so a good recovery after a really bad start from me.”

The recovery drives of Hill and Percat on Sunday completed a fantastic weekend for MSR, where both Camaros had front-running pace, which was best shown on Saturday.

Whilst Percat stole all the headlines with his stunning victory, Hill wasn’t far behind in sixth, recording his best finish since his fourth place at the season opening Thrifty Bathurst 500.

Hill even topped a Supercars session for the first time in his young career in Sunday morning practice, and finished in the top ten in both qualifying sessions.

“There was a lot of good stuff to take away this weekend. It's the first time I've topped a session in Supercars, had two top 10 qualifying results, Nick got the win yesterday and obviously had another top 10 today, so a really strong weekend for the team.

"Everyone at MSR has been working so hard this season. It's really good to have weekends like this because it reminds us all that we are capable of some incredible results.

“I’ve really enjoyed my trip down here to Tassie and now it's time to focus on the enduros.”

Now firmly in the midfield squabble in the points standings, Hill will pair up with good friend and Eggleston Motorsport Super2 driver Cameron Crick in the enduros.

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship shifts into enduro mode at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 from September 13-15. Tickets for the 60th anniversary event are available on the Supercars.com website here.