KNOCKHILL QUALIFYING REPORT

STORMING LAP FROM TURKINGTON SECURES SECOND ROW START

Colin Turkington will start the first race tomorrow from the second row of the grid after a sensational lap secured him P4 in an ultra tight Knockhill qualifying session. Despite carrying the full 75kgs success ballast, the BMW driver delivered a stunning lap in his BMW 1 series, enough to out qualify his main championship contenders.

PUSHING THE LIMIT

The conditions were dry and consistent throughout the day at Knockhill allowing Team BMW to continuously improve the 1 series during the morning sessions. Track positioning for qualifying was always going to be critical around the short 1.27 mile circuit as was getting an early banker in before the track became too dirty.

Following a very early red flag Turkington appeared more determined than ever to hustle his BMW into a strong position for race day. Clocking a 51.172s on lap 11 he initially took P1 before finishing the session in P4 just 0.192s off team mate Andrew Jordan in P3.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

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FULL CLASSIFICATION

COLIN TURKINGTON

“I knew what I had to do today and I was more determined than ever to make it happen. Some days you find that extra level of concentration and today was one of them. P4 is a fantastic result with full ballast and the product of a successful day improving the car.

When you get the BMW hooked up, there is no better circuit to push the limits than Knockhill.

Track positioning is one of the key factors in qualifying well here and today I lucked into a great space on my first run. It was quite a messy second half of the session with people going off all around and yellow flags disrupting our flow. I feel slightly frustrated as there was certainly a better lap time out there for me, but with one thing or another on track, my three best sectors never came together.

We’ve worked tirelessly since Rockingham to ensure we arrived with a car not too far from the sweet spot. The weather was consistent giving us the opportunity to refine and make those all important minor adjustments into the optimum window for qualifying and the team did an excellent job.

I’m delighted with what we achieved today, but tomorrow is where the points are. There is confidence about the team that we should have a competitive race car but the forecast rain will be the biggest challenge for everyone. Today was warm and dry so we need to get our heads into what will work in the wet and push on for every point we can get.”

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LIVE ON ITV4

Watch all the action live on ITV4 tomorrow from 11am when Steve Rider, Louise Goodman and Paul O’Neill take you through the full day of BTCC action at Scotland’s Knockhill!

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