British Touring Car Championship points leader Colin Turkington says he is ‘not focussing on protecting my lead anymore’ ahead of the penultimate round of the championship at Silverstone this weekend.
The reigning champion holds a ten-point advantage over WSR team-mate Andrew Jordan at the top of the table, but the Northern Irishman lost 19 points of his lead at the previous round at Knockhill as he missed out on a podium finish for the second weekend in a row.
Turkington says that rather than trying to be ultra-consistent he is now going to ‘just go for it’ as he seeks to successfully defend his title and give the new BMW 330i M Sport the championship in its first year.
Although Turkington has taken just one of his 51 race wins at the Northamptonshire circuit, last year he was in the top ten in all three races, including finishing on the podium in race three, leaving him feeling optimistic ahead of this weekend’s races on the National circuit.
“Knockhill was a real rollercoaster ride. Through no fault of our own, we sacrificed a lot of points, but we live to fight another day and I firmly believe that out of a setback arises the opportunity for a comeback,” said Turkington.
“With that in mind, I’m very much looking forward to Silverstone. I had a really positive weekend there last year and we’ve been strong and able to hunt out good results everywhere we’ve been so far this year, so I’m feeling confident.
“The final couple of race weekends of the season are always a little bit different – the formbook tends to go out of the window and it’s a question of grinding out results, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.
“I’m not focussing on protecting my lead anymore – I’m going out there to properly attack and really enjoy the weekend, and in many respects, that is a simpler approach than keeping a constant eye in your mirrors.
“Every point will be crucial now and I’ve just got to go for it, which has always been the way I prefer to race.”
The 37-year-old is also not fazed by the prospect of qualifying with full ballast anymore, having performed as the second-best qualifier throughout the season thus far.
“Even with the reduced ballast in the BTCC this year, I still expect qualifying to be tough because the whole grid has tightened up.
“The extra weight will certainly hurt and shuffle the pack, but my job is to deliver the best lap time I can and then move forward in all three races.”