‘Reasonably happy’ Colin Turkington says 14th was ‘what was expected’

A circumspect Colin Turkington admitted that 14^th was ‘probably what I expected’ after the Team BMW driver struggled for pace with 57 kg of success ballast on board his BMW in BTCC qualifying.

Turkington had been struggling for pace throughout Saturday, having been seventh in first practice before slipping to 14^th in second practice, albeit four tenths adrift, as the pace was upped over the course of the day.

In qualifying, the Northern Irishman was just under four tenths of a second from the pole time, as he ultimately ended up trailing his two team-mates Tom Oliphant and Stephen Jelley in the session.

Looking ahead to the three races around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, Turkington feels he will be targeting greater results as the day progresses and he may be able to shed some ballast for the latter races.

“It was probably what I expected,” said Turkington, who hasn’t won a race around the Indy layout since 2014.

“The car was the best it’s been all day and balance-wise I think we’re in the right place. I had a good car on the whole throughout the lap.

“I’d love to be higher up than P14, but that’s my pace with the success ballast. I don’t know how many times I saw the same lap time!

“We got the most out of it, it’s Brands Indy and you pay a bigger penalty for the success, but that said, I’m still happy to have the points in the bag and the weight on the car.

“I think we can go forward tomorrow. Potentially my day will be in reverse, and we’ll look to do something in race three. I’m reasonably happy.”