Colin Turkington heads into his sixth consecutive British Touring Car Championship season finale in with a chance of taking the overall title, with the defending champion saying that ‘it’s going to be every man for himself’ at Brands Hatch on Sunday.
Turkington holds a 16-point advantage heading into the race weekend over Honda’s Dan Cammish, with BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan just a further one point behind.
But Turkington has considerable experience at dealing with the pressure of heading to Brands Hatch with a title at stake, leaving the Northern Irishman with a slight advantage over some of his rivals.
As well as Cammish and Jordan, Josh Cook and Tom Ingram are also in with a shot at the title, although the latter has very much an outside chance with a 61-point deficit to make up.
“Here we go again – 12 months down the line! The season finale is a completely different race weekend to any other,” said Turkington.
“With so much at stake, the focus really intensifies but having covered the ground before, I feel well-placed. That’s not to say it makes it any easier, but it means you have a greater bank of knowledge and it’s also good to have the points tucked away in my pocket.
“You only have to see what happened at Silverstone to appreciate how unpredictable and topsy-turvy the BTCC can be – literally anything can happen.
“It’s going to be every man for himself and we need to make sure we’re fully on the case. We work all year to be here and the big job was getting to Brands in with a chance of winning the championship. This is the last step, so we’ve got to seize the moment.
“The GP circuit is the perfect track for the finale – one we all love. The lap has the perfect mix and I think we should have a strong package – we have a fast car and we go there in good shape.”
Turkington will have 45 kg of ballast heading into qualifying and race one, but he has previously handled the weight well throughout 2019, having the second-best qualifying average.
“Qualifying will be tough, but I’ll put my best foot forward and I’m excited for the challenge.
“I expect it to be a tough ride, but I’ll just tighten the screw, make sure I’m primed and ready to go and give it absolutely everything!”