Series leader Turkington happy with “points in the bag”

New championship leader Colin Turkington says he’s delighted to have points in the bag after an outstanding weekend at Oulton Park, with pole, two wins and a third place.

The West Surrey Racing man was fast in all conditions, leading every lap of the first two races and challenging at the front in the third.

The 2009 champion now leads the standings for the first time since his title-winning year, and is seven points clear of Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden going into Croft.

He had finished fourth in the final race, which became third after a post-race penalty for Jason Plato.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Turkington said: “It is a very strong weekend for us as a team and me personally. The hard work was done in qualifying on Saturday, as we got the car tuned in and did a really good lap, which set me up for a good day today.

“The pace has been good in all conditions. Winning a race in the BTCC is never easy, so winning two is a good weekend.

“What’s most pleasing is the pace of the car. We know it goes well at Oulton, but the feeling that I have is that it’s a better package. Hopefully that continues.

“Obviously it’s nice to be leading it, but it doesn’t mean a lot at this stage. I think having points in the bag is the important thing.”

Reflecting on the final race tap from Triple Eight’s Jason Plato, which saw him fall from third to fourth, Turkington added: “I was lucky to get the car stopped at Shell as I was going straight on.

“I thought there was a gentleman’s agreement that if you pass somebody unfairly you give the place back and go again, and that obviously didn’t happen.”

Next up is Croft, another of Turkington and BMW’s best circuits, where he took two wins and a second last year.

He said: “Croft could be another good track for us, but there is no guarantee of performance. There is so little between all the cars, so you can’t expect to be fast. We have got to keep grafting hard to make sure that is the case.”