Jake Hill claimed his first British Touring Car Championship title in a thrilling finale at Brands Hatch and now plans to defend the crown next year.

The Platts Heath-based BMW racer defeated title rival Tom Ingram to become the first driver from Kent to take the laurels since Farnborough-born Tim Harvey in 1992.

The 30-year-old hopes to remain at West Surrey Racing in 2025 under what could be an expanded two-car MB Motorsport banner.

Hill, who entered the weekend tied at the top of the standings with Ingram, started the race-three finale just a single point clear of his rival after winning race one and finishing second in the middle encounter.

On a wet Grand Prix circuit, Hill began the race from sixth, one place ahead of Ingram, but fell behind the Hyundai i30 racer in the early stages.

Hill's rear-wheel-drive BMW came alive once its tyres were up to temperature, though, and he took fourth place from Ingram at Hawthorn on lap five after getting ahead of Ford Focus racer Dan Cammish.

Hill set up the move on his former Ginetta rival at Surtees, running around the outside of the left-hander before the pair plunged down Pilgrims Drop side by side.

Ingram was suffering from a lack of grip and was unable to compete with Hill, who continued to gain ground and eventually finished second behind Ash Sutton (Ford Focus) after passing Aron Taylor-Smith (Vauxhall Astra) and Josh Cook (Toyota Corolla).

The result left Hill eight points clear of Ingram in the final standings, and made him the first driver from the county to win the title at Brands Hatch since Bromley's ‘Doc’ Shepherd in 1960.

"I’ve never won a championship in anything I’ve done, so to win the BTCC as my first means so much more," Hill said on Sunday evening.

"And it's lovely to win the championship at home. It means the world to me.

"Luckily, I've only got 25 minutes to get home and to bed, but I'm not sure I'm going to see it tonight!"

Hill said he feared Ingram may "drive off into the distance" in the early stages of race three, but quickly realised his rival was struggling for pace.

"I just stayed calm and after the end of the second lap I thought, hang on, it's coming," Hill said.

"Then it just started to swing massively in my favour with the car.

"I'd used the tyre pretty hard to get that move done on Tom, but the car felt so stable and I just kept pushing until I got Josh.

"I just wanted to be safe and have security points-wise."

Hill, who now has 20 BTCC wins to his name, feared he may have picked up a puncture towards the end of the race as he caught a slide at Hawthorn.

"I was just really careful," he said.

"I went a lot slower for the next four or five corners - realised the rear was okay, it was just going away - and then I just kept it calm and brought it home."

Hill paid tribute to 2022 title winner Ingram, who had enjoyed strong pace in dry conditions earlier in the day.

In race one, Ingram climbed to third despite losing ground in an incident at Druids on the opening lap which forced Sutton to retire.

The Coventry-based racer then got the better of Hill on the second lap of race two at Paddock Hill Bend to win the middle encounter.

"It's crazy to think that after 29 rounds of racing it came down to one race and we were one point apart," Hill said.

"But I've got to take my hat off to Tom. He’s a champion for a reason and he’s a top bloke, and it’s been a privilege being in this championship fight with him.

“And finally after 15 years of racing him I’ve got my first championship and I’ve beaten him to it!"

Hill, who has spent three years with Middlesex-based West Surrey Racing, helped the team secure its 10th manufacturers' crown for BMW.

He described four-time champion Colin Turkington as the "best team-mate I could have ever asked for" after the Northern Irishman moved aside to help the sister car and kept Ingram at bay in race one.

Hill says he is "just waiting for a deal from MB" for next season - the management company of former Formula 1 racer Mark Blundell, who he raced alongside in the BTCC in 2019.

"Ultimately I’m just incredibly grateful to be a part of that team with West Surrey," he said.

“It’s a fantastic collaboration we have here. It works for us commercially and it works for us from a performance point of view.”

Hill said he "thought my career was done in 2018" when he pulled out halfway through his campaign with Team Hard.

But he said former BTCC racer Shaun Hollamby "saved the day" by "giving me a cheap enough drive" for 2019, which was where Hill met Blundell.

“It was a mixture of Shaun and then me being team-mates with Mark that started this journey again," Hill said.

“Really, I owe the latter part of my career to Shaun for taking a risk with me, but ultimately, dad [former racer-turned-commentator Simon] is my real superhero.

"He just never gave up. That’s what dads do, right?”

Hill now hopes he will be rated as highly as Ingram and Sutton, who dropped out of title contention following his race one retirement.

“I think we can all agree that me and Tom these last two rounds have been inseparable,” he said.

“We want to get back to four cars, so it'd be two two-car teams…”

“We’ve both done as good a job as each other, and ultimately the conditions [the wet race three] just played into my hands and to my car as well.

“I just hope that now people see me on a level term with Tom and Ash because I feel that I haven’t been over the last few years, but hopefully I’ve made a statement, especially with that last race against Tom to secure my name in history.”

West Surrey Racing team principal Dick Bennetts said he hopes to run four cars in next season’s championship.

The squad entered a quartet of BMW 330es at Snetterton where Hill, Turkington and Adam Morgan were joined by Bobby Thompson.

Funding issues meant Thompson did not appear again, but Bennetts would like to run an extra full-time entry in 2025, although the drivers are yet to be confirmed.

“MB know we like Jake so hopefully they can generate the money, and there might be a chance there'll be two cars from MB next year,” Bennetts said.

"That's about all I know at the moment but we want to get back to four cars, so it'd be two two-car teams.”

Bennetts said Hill “has always been quick” but has “really come on” during his time with the team.

He confirmed the squad will now work on improving its engine as the Hyundai “is very strong in a straight line”.

“We have worked hard on the car this year. If it’s just greasy, we struggle, but if it’s wet like in race three then the car is mega,” he said.

“I feel so happy for all the guys and to see what Jake did in the wet was fantastic.”