COLIN Turkington reckons he can extend his recent purple patch in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship if he can keep his car in the operating window across this weekend’s triple-header at Donington Park.
The series returns to the West Midlands circuit for a second time on Saturday for qualifying and race day on Sunday, although on this occasion drivers are going to tackle the longer, 2.49-mile Grand Prix layout which comprises 12 famous sections, including ‘McLeans’, ‘Coppice’, ‘Goddards’ and ‘Redgate’.
Turkington arrives for rounds 22, 23 and 24 on the back of a win and a podium finish last time out at Knockhill in Scotland to keep his slim title chances alive as the Championship enters the business end of the season.
After Donington Park, only visits to Silverstone and Brands Hatch GP need to be made, and if the current in-form driver is to stand any chance of clinching a record-breaking fifth drivers’ crown, producing career-best performances with the help of the West Surrey Racing Team is a must from here on in.
As things stand, Turkington is fifth in the standings on 224 points – 54 behind current leader and 2022 champion Tom Ingram (Team Bristol Street Motors). Jake Hill (Lasrer Tools Racing with MB Motorsport) is second on 275 and four-time title holder Ash Sutton (NAPA Racing UK) third with a 258 points haul.
“Knockhill was a great showing for us, and although race three didn’t work out as best as it could have [due to the reversed grid draw placing him tenth on the grid], my points tally was still strong,” said the 42-year-old, who will have nine seconds of hybrid boost to deploy on each qualifying lap on Saturday.
“I have been able to use the extra Hybrid deployment in qualifying to my advantage at the past two events and if we can keep the car in the sweet spot, I hope to keep this charge going at Donington.
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“The GP circuit was a new addition to the BTCC calendar last year and the nature of it provided some great racing. If it stays dry, we can also expect to see hybrid playing a key part like it did at Knockhill.”
He added: “We only have the medium Goodyear compound tyre for race day, but options for qualifying on Saturday. Getting this strategy right will be important and may throw a few curve balls into the mix.
“Nobody can afford to put a foot wrong at this stage of the season – I have just been keeping my head down and working harder than ever, so we will see where we are come the end of the weekend.”
The 55-minute qualifying session on Saturday (3.05pm-4pm) comes to a climax with the ‘Quick Six’ shootout to establish who starts where on the first three rows of the grid for Sunday’s opening 14-lap sprint (11.30am). Races two and three, meanwhile, have a scheduled start time of 2.35pm and 5.25pm.
