Colin Turkington happy to “hit the ground running”

West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington said he was delighted to “hit the ground running” with a win at the first meeting of the season at Brands Hatch.

Turkington moved forward from fourth on the grid to first in the finale, following up his third place in the second encounter. He was also running strongly in race one, before damage caused him to fall to eighth.

The 2009 champion leaves Kent third in the standings, just three points behind early leader Andrew Jordan.

Speaking about his win, Turkington told TouringCarTimes: “The car performed from lap one up until the safety car. I was able to manage the tyres quite well, and we didn’t have too many issues on the soft tyre.

“After the safety car was a bit more difficult, but I still think we had good pace compared with the guys behind. I don’t think any of us knew what to expect on the soft tyre. But my car performed really well.

“I was conscious of managing the tyre from lap one, and certainly in the last few laps my times dropped off a bit. But fair play to the team – they have moved the car in the right direction on the soft tyre.”

Looking at his overall performance over the weekend, Turkington added: “It is good to come out of the blocks well. We have a year’s experience with the car and have had a good test programme. We have just hit the ground running – we were at the sharp end for the whole weekend.”

Donington Park is up next, a circuit where Turkington gave West Surrey Racing its first win with the BMW 125i last season.

“We know we need to be more consistent this year, and good at all the tracks. Donington was good for us last year, albeit off the back of a reverse grid, and I don’t think we should be too far away there,” said Turkington.