Hill debut completes Virgin dream.

Tommy Hill's wild-card ride in this weekend's round of the Corona Extra World Superbike championship, at Silverstone, completes a four-year dream for Rob McElnea.

21-year-old Hill was the inaugural winner of the Virgin Mobile R6 Cup back in 2001 and he is now regarded as one of the top Superbike riders in the UK - where he is the lead rider for McElnea's Virgin Mobile Yamaha British Superbike team.

"The final part of the jigsaw will be fitted into place this weekend at Silverstone!" said McElnea. "The dream four years ago of finding our own Superbike Superstar through the Virgin Mobile Cup academy will come to fruition.

"Tommy's rise through the ranks has been well documented and with his maiden BSB victory last season at Cadwell Park he joined the elite race-winners club in the most competitive domestic championship in the world. So, the final part to the jigsaw was to bring our home-grown star all the way through to compete at world level and here we are, with the switch to Pirelli tyres in the off season making this whole master plan possible.

"We are all very excited about bringing Tommy to Silverstone, it is a massive stage for my team and one where I am confident we will put on a great show, everyone knows he will be committed 110% and the patriotic crowd should have some influence on that!" he concluded.

"World Superbikes has gotten a lot quicker this year," said Tommy. "The opportunity is there, I've just got to take it and keep my feet on the ground. It is unbelievable to think that just a few years ago I was in the Virgin Mobile Cup and now here I am having a race in the World Superbike Championship. Silverstone will definitely be interesting."

Britain has a long history or producing front-running WSBK wild-cards, although the switch to a control tyre from 2004 onwards has drastically cut the number of 'superstar' wild-cards.

Hill will be the only rider from the British Superbike Championship to race in the Corona Extra World Superbike championship this weekend.