Turkington bemoans grip and windscreen woes

West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington was left bemoaning a lack of pace and a bizarre problem with his windscreen on a challenging first day at Thruxton.

The 2009 champion was the best of the BMW 125i drivers in 10th, with Rob Collard and Nick Foster back in 16th and 17th at their home event.

And when Turkington lost the rear end of his car at Allard on one of his qualifying runs, his windscreen came loose and flew out. It didn’t detach itself completely, and the Northern Irishman was able to bring it back safely to the pits.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes after qualifying, Turkington said: “It was quite bizarre. I was having a moment through turn one and I lost the rear end, and the windscreen just popped out.

“It all happened so fast. It’s one of those things that’s better happening now than tomorrow.

“It seems like it hasn’t sealed properly, but saying that the screen’s been in the car since the beginning. It may have been failing, but I’m not really sure.”

Thoughts now turn to race day, and the challenge of closing the gap to the Hondas and MGs ahead.

Turkington said: “We are quite a bit off the pace and the car is quite challenging to drive. We have been light on rear grip all day, so we have got a bit of work to do.

“We will try and make a bit of progress, but it’s not going to be easy. We don’t know where the pace is going to go, and if the front-wheel drive cars are going to drop off.”

The first race of the day gets under way at 12:02 BST.