Colin Turkington relieved to secure ‘priceless points’ at Thruxton

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington enjoyed one of his strongest visits to Thruxton in years when he claimed a brace of fourths and a second in last weekend’s British Touring Car Championship races in Hampshire.

On Saturday, Turkington qualified his BMW 330e M Sport in an impressive fourth, but once again the second-best BMW driver as stable-mate Jake Hill put his 3-Series on the front row of the grid.

At the start of race one, the Northern Irishman dropped down to fifth, but after patiently holding position for the first half of the race he made a move to re-pass Daniel Rowbottom at the high-speed Church corner on lap nine to claim fourth.

The second race was a quiet one for the four-time champion, as he ultimately finished where he started in fourth.

A minimal grid reversal for race three saw Turkington drawn to start from fourth once again, and a strong launch moved him up to second at the first corner.

Thereafter, despite keeping with race leader Adam Morgan, he stopped short of trying to pass for the lead, struggling with the turbulent air from the back of his fellow BMW driver, to secure a second-place finish.

With two fourths and a second, Turkington was pleased with his strongest weekend at Thruxton since 2018.

“Looking back over the weekend, I had no idea that my one lap wonder in qualifying would be so crucial for the overall weekend results,” said Turkington.

“The nature of Thruxton means that overtaking is difficult. The problem is that when you get close to the car in front in the high-speed sections, you lose a bit of front aero and therefore grip and find yourself falling back again.

“I was able to battle my way through the first few laps and hold P4 for the first two races. Those points were priceless.

“This was an excellent result for us at Thruxton and a really good points haul. That one lap in qualifying followed by the positive steps we made to significantly improve the car in race trim were crucial.

“There was a lot of work behind the scenes to make that magic happen. It could easily have been a completely different story. We did well!”

Turkington had considered a move on Morgan in the final race but having been under continuous pressure from Ash Sutton behind, he opted to settle for second.

“That final race involved a lot of thought; I was trying to attack the BMW in front but also defend from Ash.

“You’re trying to figure out how many laps are left and how many laps of hybrid I have left. You don’t want to use it when you don’t need to.

“The last five laps I had full deployment but it’s difficult to get a good run on somebody round Thruxton, it requires a bold move into the Complex but we’re not at that stage of the season just yet.

“Yes, I was tempted to make a move on Adam, or force an error into the final chicane, but I never had enough to get round the outside.

“It was important to bring the car home with a good score and round off a strong day with a podium finish.”