Hill wants answers after Townsville nightmare

The weather might have been the trademark warm and sunny winter weekend in Townsville, but for Cameron Hill and Brad Jones Racing, it wasn't just raining — it was pouring.

On a weekend where Walkinshaw TWG Racing were able to silence any doubters with a strong weekend, BJR looked all at sea, with 2026 recruit Hill facing a particularly rough run, all but dashing Finals hopes.

Qualifying results of 17th, 23rd, and 20th made for a difficult time of things for the Canberran, who was just three points away from clinching a Finals berth in 2025 with Matt Stone Racing.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. For Hill, it was away from the race track, as his son Miles, born in January, enjoyed a first in Far North Queensland.

"I think Miles probably had the best week of his life," said Hill on Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.

"He got to go for a swim, he's been hanging out here with the fam, just smiling at everybody, just generally vibing.

"I'm really stoked that he had a great week, because my week was hard."

Hill's struggles came amidst a weekend of misery for the wider BJR squad, all three of their cars failing to register a top 15 qualifying result until Sunday, when Andre Heimgartner secured a Top Ten Shootout berth. But, even that wouldn't last, Heimgartner forced in after two laps with his second engine-related retirement of the season.

When asked if qualifying speed was BJR's biggest struggle, Hill answered: "Not just qualy speed, we were really slow in that race. I don't know, we played a bit of set-up bingo as well.

"The fastest lap I did all weekend was actually Friday qualy, and it was probably more similar to what Andre had today. It was positive to see him make the Shootout, and what was disappointing was we didn't get to see what his race car was like.

"We were a very different set-up to him, and we're just really trying to find our way. Obviously the Walkinshaw guys have got a bit of speed going, so we're trying to emulate them in some sense, but it was a hard weekend."

Unseen by cameras was Hill's involvement in an opening lap incident on Saturday, which saw the front of his #14 Dare Toyota battered and bruised.

Images of the car with smoke pouring off rubbing guards, and eventually patched up by red race tape, perhaps summed up the weekend for Brad Jones' eponymous squad, which dropped a position in the teams' championship to MSR.

"Yeah lap 1, Turn 2. Just the concertina there is really, really bad, and I just got caught out," Hill said of the Saturday incident.

"Everyone was basically stopped and I've arrived, and I couldn't do anything about it.

"The Supra front bar at the tip is very strong, but obviously the cheeks aren't as strong and it just sort of folded in, and that ruined yesterday's race because the car was pretty bent, and I couldn't learn anything which was pretty hard.

"I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but it was a tough weekend."

Hill is 290 points from a provisional Finals position heading to the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440.