Colin Turkington “one of the greats” says Alan Gow

BTCC series director Alan Gow says the newly-crowned three-time champion Colin Turkington is “one of the great names” of the series’ 60-year history.

Speaking after handing the trophy to West Surrey Racing’s Turkington at Brands Hatch on Sunday, Gow said the Northern Irishman had shown title-winning form from the outset.

The BTCC celebrated its diamond anniverary in 2018 and Gow said the season would go down as one of the great years.

“There’s never been an undeserving champion of the BTCC and Colin is a true champion. He’s showed he’s championship material all year,” said Gow to TouringCarTimes.

“He’s only taken one race win but he’s kept racking up those points. He knows how to do it and he showed that.

“It’s easier to win a race now because it’s so close. Here, you’ve got 24 cars covered by 0.9 seconds in qualifying on a long lap. The cars are so evenly matched, which is fantastic, but to win a championship is a whole different level to winning a race.

“Colin is a class act and is one of the great names of the BTCC.”

There are changes on the longer-term horizon for the BTCC, with the introduction of hybrid power in 2022 but Gow said there was no reason to change anything ahead of 2019.

“Why would you want to change it? It’s hard to top this year and there’s no reason to change anything. We’ve got such a fantastic formula and you see the result of it here,” he said.

“I think it will go down in history as one of the great championship years we’ve had.”