Colin Turkington delighted with first win for Team BMR

Reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington said he was delighted to achieve his newest goal in touring cars, after scoring his first win for his new Team BMR outfit in race two at Donington Park.

Turkington took the lead from Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden at the start and rebuffed a strong challenge from the Scot to establish a gap, before managing his pace to keep ahead of the fast closing sister Civic Type-R of Matt Neal.

Turkington now leads the standings following his pole yesterday and third place in race one, and will start the final race from seventh.

He told TouringCarTimes he was happy to have held off a charging Honda, unlike in the same situation in 2014.

“You immediately get flashbacks!” said Turkington to TouringCarTimes, referring to his battle with Gordon Shedden from last season.

“But we were able to manage the race. The car was improved from what I had in race one. The crucial phase was at the beginning – the guys around me were on softs and needed to manage their pace, whereas I knew I could push on.”

Reflecting on his first win for Warren Scott’s team, Turkington added: “It means a lot. Winning the championship last year was the dream and the goal, but the feeling is just as good when you set yourself a new goal and you achieve it.

“I’m really pleased for all of my new team. It gives us all confidence and motivation for the rest of the year.”

Race three is up next, and will see Turkington race on the soft tyre with 75kg of ballast.

He said: “I have to manage it the best I can. For sure, the soft tyre is really difficult today, especially with weight. It is probably the most important race of the day for me now to manage that.

“It’s a really tricky dynamic because you’re in a race but you’ve got to manage the tyres. It’s about striking a balance.”