Colin Turkington: Cautiously confident

Colin Turkington started the new season in the best possible way at Brands Hatch, by putting the Team RAC BMW 320si E90 on pole for its very first race. It wasn’t quite such a dream debut on raceday, but the 25-year-old did take two second place finishes in the first two races, and was only prevented from making it a hat-trick by SEAT’s Darren Turner, who was later excluded from the race as a result.

“The first two races were great”, said Turkington. “I felt I had another podium there in the third race, but I just got booted off the circuit by the SEAT, so it’s disappointing not to finish. It feels like lost points. There’s a long way to go though.”

The first race didn’t start well for Turkington, as he struggled to get the rear-wheel drive BMW off the line from pole position.

“It didn’t go as planned. It was my first ever race in a rear-wheel drive car, and I didn’t really nail the start. I lost the race to Jason there really. Overall I’m pleased. The pace of the car is very good over a whole race. We put Jason under pressure, which is the important thing.”

For a car that was shaken down less than a week before Brands Hatch, it wasn’t a bad weekend’s work, something which Turkington is conscious of: “We could have had a lot worse of a time here. We’ve come out of the box quickly, so it’s promising for the rest of the season. I’m feeling more and more confident with the car each time. It’s better with each session. I can extract more from the car. We’ve got so much to learn at the moment about the setup of the car. We’ll be on the pace, but we’ve got some way to go yet.”