TOP-NOTCH TURKINGTON EXTENDS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

SUCCESS IN SCOTLAND HAULS 43 POINT ADVANTAGE FOR BMWS KING OF CONSISTENCY

Team BMWs Colin Turkington retained his position at the summit of the BTCC standings on Sunday (26th August) following a superb weekend at an almost nautical Knockhill. Producing a magic lap in qualifying to put himself on the second row, Turkington went on to score three top four finishes on race day, collecting the highest points tally of his season so far.

BRINGING THE MAGIC

The weather on Saturday was near to perfect with sunny, mild and consistent conditions allowing Team BMW and Turkington to improve the 1 series throughout the day. Having insisted that he would need to extract something special from himself in qualifying, the former Champion delivered a sensational lap on his first run to secure P4, ahead of his nearest championship rivals.

READ THE KNOCKHILL QUALIFYING REPORT HERE

CHALLENGED BY THE ELEMENTS

Thousands of BTCC fans braved the Scottish weather on Sunday, as a soaking wet day brought the most treacherous conditions of the season. Experience played key on and off the track as teams and drivers fell under extreme pressure. Eyes on the process from the off, Turkington maintained that he would take it one race at a time and pick his way through the day.

Providing some thrilling action in all three races, Colin Turkington enjoyed some nose-to-tail, hard racing around the breath-taking circuit, securing a double podium, fastest lap and a fourth place. Amassing 49 points in total, it was his greatest tally of the season, strengthening his fight for the 2018 crown.

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COLIN TURKINGTON

“Our success at Knockhill was the result of many things but a major factor has been the attitude within Team BMW. The shared mentality to be the best contributes greatly in keeping the project moving forward, and in improving the BMW in every department.

I feel this passion from the squad and it acts as a major catalyst in my own motivation.

Our engineering department continue to act as the nerve centre of Team BMW delivering a strong qualifying and race car. At this stage of the season it becomes more crucial than ever to be accurate with your decision making. We made a setup change for race 2 that would have improved the car but the unexpected and rapid degradation of conditions turned it into a negative. Sometimes you roll the dice. Despite that, qualifying, race 1 and 3 showed the pace we’ve got with the BMW in all sorts of conditions.

I’ve been focusing on the process lately, as it can be all too easy to become overwhelmed by the greater picture. If we keep doing all the small things to the limits of our ability, then the greater things should take care of themselves.

I owe a great deal of appreciation to the team around me. There is so much going on during a race day, and they are under a huge amount of pressure with logistics and operations under such tight time and space restraints. Time and time again they continue to keep their cool and work to the meticulous standards we expect from them.

The weather that came in for Sunday certainly charged the atmosphere at an already electric stage of the season. I’m proud of Team BMW that we kept the focus and stuck to our normal game plan.