CROFT QUALIFYING REPORT

RED FLAGGED QUALIFYING ENDS WITH FRONT ROW START FOR TURKINGTON

In a session like none before, qualifying at Croft lasted a mere 8 and a half minutes.

Red flagged due to oil on the track, it was an extremely unusual situation with over 12 cars spearing out of control at one of the fastest sections on the circuit just 8 minutes into the session.

Lucky to escape unscathed, Colin Turkington was one of the cars spat across the circuit, pirouetting over the grass, but credits a split second decision to aim for a gap between two other spinning cars as the saviour of his day.

STORY OF THE DAY – RAIN

Rain, rain and more rain had been the story of the day and qualifying was no different. Running on wets, the BTCC grid of 32 cars set to work on banking an early lap, with Turkington’s third one good enough for P2. It was a position he would hold as it was declared the session would not resume.

Delighted with the front start and pleased to have instantly felt an improvement in the BMW from FP2, Colin insists it was one of those moments when he was just waiting on impact.

COLIN TURKINGTON

“Firstly I really hope that Aron, Jeff and Luke are all okay. They all had some pretty hefty dings and nobody wants a session to end prematurely under those circumstances.

I knew straight out of the blocks we had made a step in the right direction with the BMW from FP2, which allowed me to push straight away. There was a bit of too-ing and fro-ing this morning in practice to ensure we were going the right way.

As soon as I hit the oil I was sure that it wasn’t going to end well but thankfully made the right call. I aimed for a gap between two others that were spearing off ahead of me and it appears my ‘collision radar’ was tuned in. After spinning over the grass all I could see was the wall, and to be honest, was simply waiting on impact. What a relief to able to rejoin the circuit and radio through the information.

MY HEART RATE WAS OFF THE SCALE AFTER THAT!

Starting on the front row gives me a good chance tomorrow and I aim to capitalise here when I can. I get such enjoyment from this place and hopefully that will translate through into what we can achieve tomorrow. Even though it was wet running today we shouldn’t be too far away on the dry setup.”

FULL CLASSIFICATION

Back to news