AFTER being one of the Saturday standouts at the Thrifty Bathurst 500, Cameron Hill was brought back down to earth in a matter of moments.
Starting in the midfield following an interrupted Sunday qualifying, Hill’s hopes of repeating his Race 1 heroics were over before Turn 1 thanks to heavy contact in a startline incident with Richie Stanaway and Ryan Wood.
Hill managed to nurse home his wounded #4 Tyrepower Camaro in 23rd to scoop up valuable points, but it was a result in stark contrast to starting fourth and finishing fifth 24 hours earlier.
“Saturday was awesome, everything came together,” the second-year Matt Stone Racing driver reflected.
“It shows our potential. It was a big box to tick for me to be in the shootout and to complete a pretty good lap that stood up for a while. I had a very good race, I almost threw it away, but we managed to hold on and scoring a top five was really, really cool.
“Obviously it was about the highs and lows. It’s a game of inches and we had some dramas in (Sunday) qualifying leaving me to complete only one run, with my lap a tenth off putting me in the Shootout.
“That could have been so different when we got to the race where I tangled with someone before the first corner. The grid spacing is quite tight here at Bathurst and to be honest I didn’t know who hit me. It’s just one of those things.
“We won’t let Sunday define us.
“The results on Saturday came from having 12 months in Supercars under my belt as I know the cars and processes better.
“Getting the extra seat time helped me get comfortable really quickly, so it’s all those one-percenters adding up. My intention is to maximise every opportunity that I get and I believe we did that Saturday.”
With teammate Nick Percat scoring a double top 10 at Mount Panorama, MSR is a lofty third in the teams’ championship as the focus turns to Albert Park.
Before then, Hill is set for a hero’s welcome back to his hometown of Canberra, with the nation’s capital to get a rare visit from a Supercar.
Hill and his Gen3 Chevy will head to Majura Park Shopping Centre for a meet-and-greet on Saturday morning before performing demonstration laps at this weekend’s Canberra Festival of Speed.
