Team BMW’s Colin Turkington says he ‘left nothing in reserve’ on his way to claiming pole position for the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Knockhill, his second pole of the season.
Turkington was the pace-setter for much of Saturday’s dry session in Scotland, with the northern Irishman responding in quick fashion after briefly being usurped at the top of the times by senna Proctor in the final ten minutes.
Turkington benefitted from a final straight slipstream from team-mates Tom Oliphant and Stephen Jelley to take pole by just over a tenth of a second from Proctor.
The result gives Turkington, laden with just 15 kg of success ballast, a strong chance of kick starting his championship challenge on Sunday, as he aims to close down the 37-point gap to the top of the table.
“It’s really good to be back at the front of the grid – P1 is excellent,” said Turkington. “Knockhill is always a circuit I enjoy coming to and a great track for the BMW 3 Series.
“I thought we could be on the first couple of rows given I don’t have too much success ballast in the car, but again you just never know because everybody is always fast!
“We’ve been fast all day, whether it’s been wet or dry and conditions were right for what was a qualifying lap I was pretty proud of – I certainly left nothing in reserve on that one.
“I ended up getting a good tow from Tom and Stephen, which must have helped, but now the focus moves onto tomorrow and the need to deliver big points and get myself back into the championship hunt.”
Turkington added that WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts had already offered a reward if he is able to claim the team’s 100th victory in the BTCC on Sunday.
“Dick said he would buy a bottle of champagne for whoever gets that 100th win, so that has my name all over it!
“It’s going to be tough; the gap was very small and I have a lot of very fast cars behind me. It’s not going to be an easy race, but again I’m confident in the car and I think I can score good points tomorrow.”