Colin Turkington fighting hard to stay in BTCC title battle

Reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington says his goal is still to retain his title in 2015 after conceding that he wasn’t quite fast enough to challenge for top honours at Rockingham.

The weekend in Corby was a significant tipping point in the Northern Irishman’s title tilt last season, after he picked up two dominant wins for West Surrey Racing to put one hand on the championship trophy.

Fast forward 12 months and Team BMR’s Turkington is now 33 points behind Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden with six races to go, and is realistically the last of four drivers to be in with a title shot.

A third place in the final race of the day was the 33-year-old’s best result of the meeting after two earlier top 10s.

“We haven’t ultimately been that fast this weekend but still scored pretty decent points, and I’ve kept myself well in the mix,” said Turkington to TouringCarTimes.

“Obviously I would have liked to have been faster and pushed for the win, but we just didn’t have the speed. Something was just slightly amiss, so I’m pleased to finish the weekend with a podium.

“I think I left Rockingham last year with a 40 or 50 point lead, and I’ve had to work really hard to be in this position [this year] with the change in machinery. There’s six really important races still to go and all to play for.”

Team BMR showed strongly at Silverstone last year in a Volkswagen CC which was not as finely tuned as the one Turkington has underneath him now.

With this in mind, he is confident of a strong showing at the home of British motor racing.

“It’s the sort of place which should suit the VW and play to our strengths, but the championship is so competitive now – you can’t take anything for granted. The Hondas haven’t been slow anywhere, it’s still wide open,” said Turkington.

“I still want to win. You have to work really hard to win this championship and you don’t just want to hand it over. I want to go into Brands Hatch with a really good chance.”