Colin Turkington ends first race at Donington Park in the gravel

Colin Turkington’s Superstars Series debut ended rather unceremoniously off at McLeans after contact from one of the other BMWs on lap 12, and will have to fight his way forward from tenth on the grid in race two.

Turkington was running as the top BMW in fifth position, with the two Team Dinamic BMWs of Giovanni Berton and Max Mugelli close behind, when one of the two drivers made contact with him at McLeans, eliminating him from the race.

“I just got taken out by another BMW,” said Turkington to TouringCarTimes. “I was on the inside defending, and he probably out-braked himself and just run into the left side of my car and turned me around into the gravel, and that was it, game over.

“It was going OK up until then, I was running a good fifth. The pace was OK, but the Mercedes and Audi were quite a bit quicker.”

Berton went on to finish in second place, dodging the oil slick at the Melbourne Hairpin and passing the two Mercedes of Liuzzi and Biagi as well as Morbidelli’s Audi, with team-mate Mugelli finishing in sixth position.

Turkington was the final retirement from the race and was classified tenth overall, and will share row five on the grid for the second race with team-mate and team owner Gianni Giudici, which starts at 15:10 BST.