Reigning Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington was satisfied with his Brands Hatch points haul, insisting that BMR Racing can only improve from here on in 2015.
Turkington emerged from the opening weekend of the season at Brands Hatch’s Indy circuit lying sixth in the championship, just seven points shy of the top of the table thanks to a return to the podium in race two in his new environment.
Qualifying fourth on the grid, the Volkswagen CC driver took finishes of fifth, third and 12th in Sunday’s races to leave Turkington feeling more confident behind the wheel of his new machine.
Speaking to The Checkered Flag at the end of the weekend, Turkington said: “It’s good to get three finishes. I’ve learned a lot about the car and what I need to change in me to make it faster.”
Turkington and fellow double championship-winning team-mate, Jason Plato, both suffered mixed fortunes on Sunday, their stablemate Aron Smith ultimately enjoying the most fruitful weekend with a pair of podium finishes that left him second in the standings by a mere point behind both Matt Neal and Jack Goff.
Consistently racking up the points remains Turkington’s prime goal of the season, while the Northern Irishman praised the performances of team-mate Smith in Kent and says that the results show BMR Racing as a team on the rise.
“I still collected solid points”, added Turkington. “We know that there is still work to do on this car, but I think that if you look at what Aron did, he’s the one that knows the most about the car and you can see that the pace is there.
“That’s certainly very positive in going forward for us. We made a few quite big steps on the car over the weekend.”
Turkington’s podium in race two was unfortunately followed by 12th place after an off at Surtees in the final encounter of the day, caught out by the rear axle as he continues his re-adaptation to front-wheel drive for the first time since 2006.
“I obviously learned a lesson in race three about the rear tyres. I just lost the back end coming through Surtees”, Turkington admitted.
“It takes time getting back used to front-wheel drive. It’s a completely different thing being so used to something else for so long, but I’m learning a lot more each time.”
Photo: Craig McAllister
