Colin Turkington had a strong run in qualifying for the World Touring Car Championship in China, qualifying in third for the first race with the help of his former team West Surrey Racing.
In Q1 Turkington was fourth fastest to easily see him through to Q2. Although that put the Northern Irishman seventh on the grid for the second race he went on to set the third fastest time in Q2 to put him on the second row of the grid for the first of tomorrow’s (Sunday) races.
Turkington and the Wiechers-Sport team are receiving assistance from WSR this weekend, the team that took him to the 2009 British Touring Car Championship title.
“The car’s been good all weekend and the WSR engineers have just been chipping away at improving it,” said Turkington. “The BMW was at its best in that qualifying session and I feel we’ve got a really good car for racing too, although it’s going to be tough to overtake as the circuit is very tight.
“I’m really pleased to be starting in such a good position as our sponsor, Aviva-Cofco, have got a lot of guests here tomorrow, so I’ll be looking forward to their support and putting on a good show for them.”
WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts praised the work of his team, who have ran BMW 3-series in the British and World Championships since 2007.
“It was a great result for Colin and the whole Aviva-Cofco team. The WSR guys have been working really hard all weekend on the setup of the BMW and this is a reward for their efforts.”