2 – Colin Turkington
1274 days was the waiting period between Colin Turkington‘s championship-winning final BTCC race of 2009 and his eagerly-awaited return to the series at the beginning of 2013. Yet it was almost as though the Irishman had never been away…
Turkington had the added challenge of courting West Surrey Racing‘s newest creation – the NGTC BMW 125i – through it’s rapid development process during the season, and he achived a handle on it quicker than either of his team-mates Rob Collard and Nick Foster to soon become a major threat for the title.
Questions were asked as to how long it would take him to return to winning ways again, and the answer was short. By the sixth race of the season at Donington, Turkington was already on the top step again, repeating the feat a further four times during the year.
A stellar round at Croft displayed Turkington’s masterful talents; pole positon followed up by two emphatic wins, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick of victories in the North East by less than a second in a weekend full of mixed weather conditions.
40 points back, Turkington began a fierce fightback to soon became a genuine title contender by the halfway stage of the season, and two more wins at Knockhill brought him within striking distance.
However, a race three technical exlcusion in Scotland began a phase of terrible luck for the Irishman in the remaining three meetings, his overall and Independent Championship dreams coming to an end at Brands Hatch after an incident with his eBay Motors team-mates on race one’s opening lap.
Finishing fifth overall with five wins and 11 podiums, Turkington had returned with a vengence, and will surely be a major threat for a second BTCC title in 2014.
