Croft star Colin Turkington revels in “perfect weekend”

West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington has described his Croft weekend as “perfect”, as he vaulted himself back into the 2013 championship hunt in some style.

The 2009 champion took the first pole position for the new BMW 125i on Saturday, and followed it up with a pair of wins and a second place on Sunday.

It means that despite a slow start to the season while getting the car up to speed, Turkington is now only 40 points behind series leader Matt Neal.

And the Northern Irishman has also closed right up in the independents’ standings, and sits 30 points behind season-long leader Andrew Jordan at the halfway point.

The Croft weekend also saw the first occasion when one of the top teams have plumped for the soft tyre in the first race, another decision which paid off handsomely.

“Really it was the perfect weekend for me. We have been good at Croft before, and with the conditions and how the car was performing, I was able to maximise what we had,” said Turkington to TouringCarTimes.

“Getting pole position on Saturday set me up for a great day. I think our strategy was pretty key for the weekend, running the soft tyre in race one.

“Then in race two I had 45kg in the car, but the conditions were not straightforward and allowed me to get away with carrying the weight, because everyone was struggling for traction.

“Then I had a really good car in the wet for race three. It was the case with the 3 Series that we weren’t as competitive in damp conditions, but we were very strong on Sunday.”

Turkington said he believed tyre management was crucial to his success in North Yorkshire.

He said: “Croft is an abrasive circuit and works the tyres quite hard, so I don’t know if we will be like that everywhere.

“What we have seen before at Croft is that the rear-wheel drive cars can manage it a bit better. There is more degradation there than at any other circuit.”

Regarding fitting the soft tyres for race one, he added: “It was a roll of the dice. We didn’t know if they would last, but they have been fine for me everywhere else.”

Turkington is now looking forward to the second half of the season with fresh impetus, following the big strides taken in the last two rounds.

He said: “Certainly the past two weekends have kept me in contention. I have not been thinking at all about the championship, just focusing on improving the car.

“But I am still in contention, especially if we can come out of the blocks at Snetterton.”