British Touring Car Championship points leader Colin Turkington is expecting Knockhill to be ‘well-suited’ to his BMW 3 Series, as the tin-top series heads to Scotland for the eighth event of the season.
Team BMW’s Turkington leads WSR team-mate Andrew Jordan by 29 points at the 70% stage of the season, and is expecting the rear-wheel drive BMW to continue to perform well at Knockhill, even though he has 54 kg of success ballast heading into the first race.
Turkington has only twice before won at Knockhill, standing on the top step twice in 2013, although the 37-year-old twice finished second in 2018 and he has taken seven podiums from his last five visits to the circuit in the BTCC.
“I’m feeling excited, refreshed and ready for battle,” said Turkington. “I lived in Scotland for four years when I was at university in Stirling and did some instructing at Knockhill, so it’s somewhere I still have a lot of friends and I always enjoy going back.
“It feels like a ‘home’ circuit for me in that respect and it’s a mega track – not to mention a unique challenge.
“It’s nice to get stuck into something a bit different, and it definitely rewards bravery. We go there on the front foot and I’m feeling confident.
“Knockhill has generally been kind to rear wheel-drive cars, so it should be well-suited to the BMW 3 Series and I’m targeting a really strong points haul.”
The Northern Irishman has taken five wins so far this year, and he insists that his approach has not changed in the closing stages of the season, with the consistent three-time champion targeting further silverware at the weekend.
“As ever there, qualifying will be very important to set us up for a good weekend. The extra weight from leading the championship will hurt our acceleration coming out of the final hairpin onto the start/finish straight, but at the end of the day, that’s only a short section of the lap and hopefully the 3 Series’ strong handling characteristics will more than compensate.
“My overall mentality hasn’t changed. In the BTCC, you simply can’t afford to hold back in any way, shape or form, and I go into the weekend primed to attack.”