Photo: WTCC Media

Turkington top indie qualifier on WTCC return

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Colin Turkington qualified the Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC in fifth overall for the first race of the day and the top qualifying independent in a frenetic qualifying session, and hopes for dry weather tomorrow.

The 2009 British Touring Car Champion has been drafted in to replace Stefano D’Aste for Donington Park only, who has other commitments in the GT4 European Cup at Zolder.

Things were looking bleak heading into qualifying after Turkington went off in Free Practice 1, and was suffering with a major vibration problem in FP2.

“It was a big problem (the vibration) in the second practice and we didn’t get to put out any laps but we understand now what happened to the car was back to normal for qualifying,” said Turkington to TouringCarTimes.

In qualifying, the times tumbled as the circuit dried out, with Turkington’s name often appearing at the top of the timing sheets before the final few minutes when every time was an improvement.

“It was just a matter of staying out there. I chose to come in early after the first run and chose to just stay out there as the track was drying. At the end it was dry apart from one corner so it was important to be out and try and do the last lap.

“I think the times were improving all the time, I’m not sure if people were trying to position themselves close to P10, but I wasn’t, I was just going as fast as I could!” said Turkington.

For race one tomorrow, Turkington will start fifth behind the three Chevrolets and the SUNRED León of Tiago Monteiro. In the second race, the Northern Irishman lines up sixth and will start ahead of the independent Chevrolet of Darryl O’Young and the three works Chevrolets of Alain Menu, Rob Huff and Yvan Muller.

On his chances of competing with the all-dominant Chevrolets at Donington Park, Turkington explained:
“If it’s dry, there’s a chance, but if it’s wet, there’s no chance. At the moment, BMW can’t compete in the wet. On a normal track we could, but not at Donington,” referring to the disadvantage of the rear-wheel drive BMWs which saw them struggled throughout the wet free practice sessions.

Race one takes place at 12:05 BST on Sunday, with the second race at 14:20.