Colin Turkington: “Third an excellent result”

Colin Turkington insisted that third on the grid was an “excellent result” after the points leader secured a second row slot in qualifying at Oulton Park.

The defending champion was the fastest rear-wheel drive car in practice despite the additional weight on his car, and headed into qualifying keen to try and build on that pace.

Turkington would be the first driver in the session to break the 1:26s marker when drivers headed out for their second qualifying run and looked set to snare pole for the second season in a row before Josh Cook and Rory Butcher jumped ahead.

“I was on provisional pole for a while and when that happens, you wonder if you’ve done enough but there is always someone who can pip you at the end,” he said. “However, to be in P3 with full weight is an excellent result and more than I could hope for.

“Track position here is important and the car feels good. We’ve done a lot of work to make the car quick with weight in it and that has shown here. The weather has limited our time to get the car in the window and it does take a little longer to find the sweet spot when the car is heavy, but we aren’t far away.

“It’s the same for everyone but we’re in a good place for race day and the aim is to score good points in all three races.”