Colin Turkington ‘in a good place’ two rounds in

Colin Turkington says he feels he is ‘in a good place’ after opening his win account for the 2023 BTCC season at Brands Hatch.

The Northern Irishman benefitted from a strong performance in qualifying – where he grabbed a place on the front row – to power to victory in the opening race having elected to run the soft compound tyre at the first opportunity.

Having then taken third in race two, Turkington ended the weekend with a solid fifth place in race three to leave the second meeting of the campaign sitting fourth in the points as the best-placed of the BMW drivers.

“We haven’t had the fastest car, but we still scored really well with the BMW and winning is excellent,” he said of the weekend.

“We maximised the opportunity of starting on the front row in race one by using the soft tyres when we had the most hybrid boost. It probably looked simple to those sat at home but it was a real game of cat and mouse, trying to second guess the guys behind whilst feeling our way through what was really the first long run on that rubber.

“There’s a big difference between the soft and medium tyre options and in race two, Ash and Tom were able to capitalise while I had to wait for the grip to come to me on those mediums.  I didn’t have the hybrid to really fight back and ultimately I have to be happy with picking up a podium.

“I’ve benefitted a little bit from others misfortune in race three to finish where I did, but overall we were clever with strategy and we worked it well. It’s six finishes from six races and we go forward to Snetterton in a good place.”