Colin Turkington surprised by BMW pace

Colin Turkington admitted he was surprised by the pace in his BMW after qualifying on the front row of the grid for the third meeting of the BTCC season at Thruxton.

The West Surrey Racing driver was on the pace throughout Saturday, leading the way in the opening practice session and then heading the rear-wheel drive brigade in FP2 – where he was narrowly beaten to top spot by Dan Cammish.

Qualifying saw Turkington spend much of the session on top of the times having gone underneath the qualifying lap record and even though he would ultimately be beaten to pole by Matt Neal’s Honda, the Northern Irishman was delighted with second on the grid.

“I’m a bit surprised to have been so quick all day,” he said. “It’s all down to the hard work we did at the test last month when we really got our eye in and moved in the right direction balance wise.

“The car has been handling well and whilst this has traditionally been a front wheel drive circuit, we won here twice last year year so we knew we could be near the front. I’d have been happy with a top six so to be on the front row is great.”

Turkington currently sits tenth in the standings after a mixed start to the year and said strong points across race day was his main focus.

“We need to score well tomorrow in all three races,” he said. “It’s been a mixed start to the season and we have been fighting it a bit but the car is fast. We just need to get to the end of the races with some good points and that will put us on the right road.”