TIME’S UP ON TESTING
TURKINGTON’S POSITIVE PRE-SEASON TESTING DRAWS TO A CLOSE, AS THE BTCC GETS SET TO GO RACING
- Colin Turkington completed his final pre-season test at Thruxton yesterday, with just over a week to go before the 2022 season kicks off.
- Donington Park will be the next outing for the Team BMW driver when the new Hybrid era officially takes flight on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th April.
- The four time Champion also used the Thruxton Media Day to launch his new-look helmet to coincide with the new era of the British Touring Car Championship.
- Turkington has enjoyed three positive tests in his new BMW 330e M Sport over the past few weeks, running and exploring the new Hybrid power system.
- Although insisting his test programme has gone well, Turkington believes this season will be the biggest challenge to date.
NEW LOOK LID
Colin revealed his new 2022 helmet design yesterday, showing off a stunning shift to matte white from his previous navy blue.
COLIN TURKINGTON
Today was a very busy day and involved seven hours of track time for us. We visit Thruxton two times in a season so it’s crucial we come here with a strong package. Every small change we test on the car is vital knowledge we’ll need ahead of our May event. Today was the first time we’ve tested the Goodyear Hard compound tyre with the 2022 spec cars and we won’t use this again until we return.
Overall, I feel our test programme has been extremely positive and we’ve certainly got a better package than last year, but knowing where we’ll fall in the pack come show time, is impossible to know. As a team, we’ve covered a significant amount of ground with the Hybrid system since our first test, and I imagine this steep learning curve will continue throughout the first half of the season.
As a driver, it’s exciting to sink our teeth into something new, especially something that adds another layer of complexity to the driving. Without a doubt, this season will be one of the toughest yet!
COMBINED CLASSIFICATION
Reigning Champion Ashley Sutton topped this test session, with Turkington’s team mate Jake Hill second fastest overall. Colin showed good pace in both morning and afternoon sessions, finishing up 8th quickest by the end of the day. Critically, Turkington completed a full race run in the PM session, gathering crucial information ahead of the visit to Thruxton in May.
UNDERSTANDING THE HYBRID SYSTEM
GALLERY
CATCH UP ON TESTING
Click here to read about how Colin topped the first and second BTCC ore-season tests!
BTCC LIVE ON ITV
The BTCC announced on Tuesday evening, that the Oulton Park and Brands Hatch Indy events will be broadcast on the major ITV channel – ITV1! Two of the three races will be shown LIVE as it happens on the main ITV channel. The other 8 events will be shown LIVE on the home of BTCC – ITV4.
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