The Story
Team HARD were aiming for regular points finishes in the 2016 BTCC. Having secured a third car for their latest campaign, the driver line up was two rookies and a third driver with just three weekends worth of BTCC experience. Though they achieved the aim of regularly finishing inside the points, it was a less than steady season for the team, with multiple drivers getting behind the wheel of their third car as financial problems plagued Chris Smiley.
Jake Hill was the Team HARD star of the season. Though he wouldn’t qualify for the Jack Sears trophy, 2016 was Hill’s first full BTCC season and he was looking to impress. Hill would take points from nine of the ten weekends, regularly outshining his team mates and out qualifying them at almost every opportunity.
Hill got off to a strong start at Brands Hatch, taking points from the opening race despite a slightly disappointing qualifying. A fuel pressure sensor failure brought a premature end to the second race after a fantastic start for the young driver, putting him to the back of the grid for race three and making it almost impossible to take any more points from the weekend. Still, Hill put up a strong fight and was battling with Tom Ingram as he made his way up through the field when a high speed spin took him out of the fight, ruining his tyres in the process.
After a disappointing Donington Park weekend, when Hill retired from two races and failed to take points from the third, Hill started a steady improvement that lasted the entire season. He may have spent the first half of the season battling at the lower end of the top ten or just outside it but, by the time they reached the final round of the championship, Hill had taken a P5 finish and qualified inside the top ten.
It wasn’t a spectacular season for the young driver, but it showed promise. Hill was the highest driver in the championship to leave the season without a podium finish, and took points in seventeen of the thirty races. The twenty two year old’s future in BTCC is not yet certain, but he certainly proved he has potential.
Michael Epps was the third driver to be confirmed by Team HARD for their 2016 season. Confirmed at the start of March, Epps would be making his BTCC debut and aiming to help the team make that regular points finish target.
It wasn’t going to be an easy year for Epps. His first weekend was a learning experience as he struggled to bring the Toyota Avensis up through the order, whilst the second round was ruined by a cracked intercooler. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though. Once the problem at Donington Park was fixed, Epps was able to join the fight in the final race of the weekend, progressing to thirteenth to take his first BTCC points.
Thruxton would be one of the highlights of Epps’ season. The rookie had a challenging weekend, with problems both in the race and in the car, but Epps fought hard to take three points finishes from the weekend, moving ahead of Hill in the championship standings.
It wouldn’t be Epps last visit into the points, as he ended the first half of the season with six points finishes in the fifteen races, but it was clear he could do more. Epps spent the majority of the time moving forwards after disappointing qualifying sessions, only qualifying inside the top twenty once in the first five meetings. His aim for the second half of the season was to improve that, and hope better points finishes came with it.
Snetterton, the first race in the second half of the season, didn’t really go to plan. After qualifying twentieth, Epps had problems in all three races, and left the circuit without any points. It wasn’t a complete disaster though. Epps was called to the podium at the end of the weekend and, a little confused, he received the Jack Sears trophy for the weekend. Epps had finished inside the top three in the rookie championship on all three occasions, even taking the “win” in the first race.
The second half of the season was trickier than the first for Epps, but he was able to close the gap to his rookie rival Ashley Sutton in the fight for the Jack Sears Trophy, taking the battle down to the final weekend. He would eventually finish the season eighteen points behind Sutton, but with three rookie wins to his name.
The fate of the third driver in the Team HARD line up was a little more complicated. Chris Smiley, another rookie, was supposed to be running in the third car, but financial problems put an end to that midway through the season. In his five rounds in the Toyota Avensis, Smiley failed to take any points, but came close with a sixteenth place at Thruxton.
For the Snetterton and Knockhill rounds, Michael Caine (not the film star) was brought in to fill the third seat, but it wouldn’t last long. A shunt in the opening race at Knockhill, an old back injury flared up, and Caine suffered a lack of feeling in his lower back and legs. Naturally, he was advised to drop out of the series.
Team owner Tony Gilham filled the seat for the final three rounds. It was a difficult ride for Gilham, who didn’t really want to be driving and trying to run the team at the same time. Though an ex-BTCC driver and a star in other series, it had been a while since he’d turned a wheel in anger, and he retired from four of the nine races, unclassified for another.
Though we’re certain Team HARD will return next year, it’s unknown who will be in any of the seats. We expect another young star in at least one of their brightly coloured cars, but whether any will be a returning star is yet to be seen.
The Stats
Qualifying Positions
Finishing Positions
Position Changes
Image Credit: Caroline Rhea
