Hard work crucial at Croft for Colin Turkington

He’s driving as well as ever, and generated more than a few headlines after his star showing at Oulton Park three weeks ago – but Colin Turkington is taking nothing for granted despite shooting to the top of the BTCC standings as the season approaches the halfway point.

Two wins and a third at Oulton Park has cemented the West Surrey Racing man’s position at the top of the standings, as the series heads into Croft this weekend.

It’s another track which traditionally suits Turkington and the BMW 125i, with a pair of wins and a second place his reward for his efforts there in 2013.

Much of the talk post-Oulton Park has been about Triple Eight’s comments on the BMW’s startline advantage. But in this Q&A ahead of Croft, the 2009 champion says another result gave him greater satisfaction.

What have been the highlights of the season so far?

Winning race three at Thruxton has been the stand out performance for me. Thruxton has always been a tricky circuit for the RWD BMW and, after qualifying 13th, it looked like a trend that would continue. We made a huge step forward with the car on race day and to turn that into a race victory was a big achievement for the team.

You must be in a confident mood for the rest of the season after Oulton Park?

Oulton Park was the perfect race weekend for me and was the result of a huge amount of hard work. We have a brilliant car now in the 1 Series BMW, but the competition is stronger than ever, so we need to keep grafting hard to stay at the front.

What have been the main improvements to the car this season compared to last season?

Small things really. I think having a car you understand and know how to tune is a big factor. We have made the car more forgiving to drive, so you don’t always have to be on the edge.

How closely do you work with the West Surrey Racing mechanics regarding improvements with the car?

The mechanics and engineers are the brains of the operation! It’s my job to give accurate feedback on how the car behaves on track, so I guess one can’t work well without the other. We have a very strong, experienced team on the engineering side and we are constantly trying to improve the car.

How important are the West Surrey Racing mechanics to how the team perform?

The mechanics are the men on the ground doing all the hard work behind the scenes. They work on the race cars every day and know every nut and bolt. I have to treat my car like a lady or else my guys can get very upset.

Does it put more pressure on you being top of the table in both a team and individual sense?

No, I don’t think so. Being at the top of the table shows the season is going well, but the points that we’ve accumulated at this stage are more important. It only matters who is top of the table after Brands Hatch in October.

How do you evaluate your own performance at Croft & Snetterton last season? How can you improve your performance for this year?

Croft was a particularly strong weekend for us last year. It’s one of the circuits that the car was quick straight out of the box. At Snetterton we had to work a bit harder to find the speed but there are strong and weak circuits for every car on the grid. We set ourselves the goal this year to have a more consistent level of performance and that becomes easier when you have a faster car.

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