Colin Turkington says he ‘may have just kissed’ Aiden Moffat in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch, with the incident enabling the BMW driver to go on and win in the race.
Turkington was on a charge to keep his championship hopes alive in race two at Brands Hatch, going from 15th on the grid to take victory.
But on his way to a much-needed win, Turkington controversially passed Moffat with contact at Turn 1 on lap 13, leading to the Scot dropping to fifth as Turkington romped away to victory.
“Aiden was carrying full weight and driving a very defensive race ,” said Turkington. “I came with so much more pace and was able to brake so much deeper.
“The disparity between the two cars at that point was pretty obvious and there was too much at stake to follow him around, so I may have just kissed him; I’m going to give it a try.”
The Northern Irishman was deemed to be at fault for the contact, but the race result was not amended. Turkington was handed a £500 fine and given three points on his licence.
After the race, a clearly emotional Turkington was delighted to have been able to keep his title hopes alive – with the BMW driver just six points behind Subaru’s Ash Sutton heading into the season finale.
“I’ve still got the fight; what an amazing race. I wasn’t expecting to make that much progress but the strategy was really good.
“Obviously, I missed out in race one but with the soft tyre here and no weight the 1 Series was blinding. I had the fire in my belly, there’s too much at stake not to.
“The grip was there in the warmer part of the day once you make a few places up, you get a bit of confidence and we were strong in the right areas, so I could make the cutback and we were strong on the brakes too.
“I’m just going to give it everything [in race three]; I’ve fought from day one to now, so I’ll keep trying.”