Team BMW’s Colin Turkington is looking forward to returning to his most successful British Touring Car Championship circuit at Croft, where he will take on the recently resurfaced circuit.
Turkington is comfortably the most successful BTCC driver at the North Yorkshire circuit, having won there 12 times previously. The circuit traditionally favours rear-wheel drive cars, and for the past six years at least two of the three races over the weekend have been won by either a BMW or a Subaru.
“There’s just something about Croft and its unique challenge that really excites me,” said Turkington. “It’s easily my favourite circuit on the calendar and historically BMW has achieved great success there, so the pressure is on to keep that story going.
“The track has been completely resurfaced – coincidentally by one of my long-term partners, Tarmac – so I’m keen to get out there and understand the grip level.”
Turkington heads to Croft as the joint championship leader along with Rory Butcher on 102 points, and as a result the Northern Irishman will have to carry the full 54 kg of success ballast.
“I’ll be qualifying with some weight in the car so will need to ensure I maximise everything from myself and the BMW – accurate engineering and bravery will be the difference between a good qualifying and a great one.
“It feels like Thruxton was ages ago, but that time was important to understand the development of the new 3 Series, analyse my performance and identify areas where we can improve before we plan our next attack.
“We’ve covered so much ground in such a short space of time so to be honest, I was glad of the breathing room to take stock.
“That in turn has given me the confidence to take the next step, knowing we are going the right way.”