Colin Turkington to race in the WTCC

Reigning British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington will join the field of the World Touring Car Championship this year, in a car run by West Surrey Racing.

“I feel this is a natural progression for me after last year’s championship,” said Colin.

“We were bitterly disappointed when – due to insufficient sponsorship – we were unable to compete in either the BTCC or WTCC full programmes. This opportunity – initially for three rounds – has been made possible through the support of a group of private sponsors. We are really grateful to them and hopefully, with further support from others, we may be able to make additional rounds towards the end of the season.”

Turkington will be run by West Surrey Racing (WSR), whom he has driven for in six seasons during his competition in the British championship.

“Obviously we know the WSR guys very well. They’re a top team and have been a big part of my success in recent years,” said Colin. “I’m also indebted to Team Principal, Dick Bennetts with whom we have been working very closely over the past few months to make this deal a reality.”

Turkington will be driving the BMW 320si in which he won the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.

“This is part of our plan to target a full programme in 2011. We will be working hard over the coming months to demonstrate the WTCC is a fantastic event with which to be associated as a sponsor and will be speaking with a number of organisations in the hope they will come on board for next year.”

Turkington admits to being touched by the wave of support from the racing fraternity since the beginning of this season.

“We have received hundreds of email messages of support from our fantastic fan base. It’s going to be great to get back behind the wheel again. I can’t wait.”

West Surrey Racing Team Principal Dick Bennett’s said of the move:
“The team had been looking at both the BTCC and the WTCC, however Colin felt that he’d like a new challenge, after being the BTCC Champion last year and the BTCC Independents Champion for the last three years.”

Turkington has competed twice in the WTCC before, in 2007. In his first ever WTCC race at Brands Hatch he finished on the podium and was the top placed BMW driver in that race. He then also notched up a fourth place in the second race to top a fantastic debut racing against the worlds best touring car drivers.

Later at Macau, Colin also managed to pick-up points on his first visit to the notoriously tricky street circuit.

The three rounds the team are initially scheduled to take part in will be three consectutive rounds, starting at Portimao, Portugal on July 4th, moving on to Brands Hatch, England ,July 18th – and finally Brno in the Czech Republic on August 1st.