Colin Turkington ‘saved the best until last’ in last-gasp qualifying

Colin Turkington says that he ‘saved the best until last’ in the wet qualifying session for the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the year at Thruxton, in which the BMW driver bagged third on the grid for race one.

In tricky wet and windy conditions in practice, Turkington managed just the 14^th and 19^th fastest times respectively in the two earlier sessions.

The Team BMW driver was then outside the top ten halfway through qualifying, which was initially on a wet track, before bolting on slick tyres to his 330i M Sport and progressively improving towards the end of the session.

That eventually netted Turkington third on the grid for the first race on Sunday, with only Ash Sutton and Josh Cook ahead of him on the road.

“I saved the best until last,” said Turkington. “It’s obviously been tricky conditions for everybody today and we’ve been throwing a few different things at it and just trying to learn for qualifying.

“As usual we’ve got faster as the day has gone on. I think I just got onto my slick tyres in the right time – a lap earlier would have been even better. The grip was just improving every lap.

“I’m really happy for my team and BMW to be starting on the second row.”

Turkington added that it had taken him time to get his tyres up to temperature at the end of qualifying, which is why he left it so late to claim the third fastest time.

“It takes forever just for the front tyres to switch on. The rears were ready after a few laps, but you just turn it into the corner and it’s a big push.

“That’s why you’ve got to get onto them early and try to be aggressive and build the temperature. It’s a really good start for me.”

Turkington admitted that he is hoping for dry weather consistency on Sunday, with race one taking place ballast-free for the only time of the year when drivers duke it out on track without results-based success ballast.

“Today has been such an up and down day. I think at least tomorrow will be dry. But I’ve probably done three laps around here in the dry on slicks, so it’s going to be a fun first race.

“I’ll just try to enjoy it and pick up points if I can across all three races.

“We don’t tend to do so well in qualifying at Thruxton as it’s more or a front-wheel-drive track, so to get on the second row is very good and puts us in a great position to score good points tomorrow.”