Colin Turkington ‘really looking forward to Brands’

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington says he is ‘really looking forward’ to this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship races at Brands Hatch, where he is targeting a first win of the season.

It wasn’t until Brands Hatch Indy last year that the Northern Irishman opened his winning campaign, taking victory in race one and following it up with a third and fifth later in the day.

Turkington has already started this season stronger than the last, thanks to a trio of top five finishes in the season opener at Donington Park, which culminated in a podium in the final race.

This weekend will also see the introduction of both the hybrid allocation in qualifying and the new option tyre rule, which means the top ten in race one must use the hardest available tyre for the next race.

The four-time champion is therefore looking forward to this weekend’s races at a circuit where he has won ten times previously, including six on the Indy circuit.

“Going through the hybrid allocations and knowing the impact it’s having so far this year, I’m actually really looking forward to Brands,” said Turkington.

“I left Donington feeling confident about my package for this year and motivated about the opportunity the rule changes have added.

“WSR did a fantastic pre-season effort and the fruits of that showed at Donington. It’s important for us to get into the groove now and be smart – this season is going to be more tactical than previous ones.”

Turkington is also looking forward to having another crack at the new qualifying format introduced for 2024.

“The race weekends come thick and fast this year with one every other week, and that’s exciting for the fans.

“Qualifying will be very interesting this time at Brands Hatch as we have the hybrid energy management system in operation that wasn’t in play at the season opener.

“The ‘Quick-Six’ qualifying added to the intensity of the Saturday session and I loved that demand for performance. You basically went out, got everything up to temperature and had one or two laps to deliver. The conditions were difficult too, so it really was a baptism of fire for the new format.

“The weather forecast is looking kinder for Saturday and Sunday so hopefully operations will run more smoothly and the BTCC fans can enjoy some sunshine and exciting motorsport action instead of wading through floods and mud!”