Photo: WTCC Media

Colin Turkington to drive a Chevrolet in China

Colin Turkington will make his WTCC return next weekend at Shanghai a year after his last professional race, this time in a Chevrolet Cruze, run by West Surrey Racing under the Aviva-Cofco banner.

The car is RML’s spare car and is being shipped out this week.

“It’s great to be back in the WTCC and I’m really excited to be driving at Shanghai’s F1 circuit”, said Turkington. “I haven’t raced since the WTCC event at Tianma last year, so it will probably take a while to get the rust out of the system. It’s also the first time I drive the Chevrolet Cruze. The last time I drove a front wheel drive touring car was for in 2006, so that’s another steep learning curve.”

Turkington’s last time in a front-wheel drive car was in the West Surrey Racing MG-ZS in the 2006 BTCC season. Since then he has raced the rear-wheel drive BMW 320si almost exclusively in the BTCC, WTCC and STCC.

“We’re really pleased to be back in the WTCC with the support of Aviva,” said WSR Team Principal Dick Bennets. “It’s going to be a tough challenge for Colin and the team to learn a new car and a new track, but we’re all looking forward to it. We’ve obtained the car from RML and they have bent over backwards to help us get everything to Shanghai in time, so we can’t thank them enough.”