Colin Turkington happy with winning show on soft tyre

Team BMR’s Colin Turkington said he was happy with his Volkwagen CC’s performance on the soft tyre in the opening encounter at Snetterton, after racking up his second victory of the year.

The reigning champion led from lights to flag to head home a first ever one-two-three for the team, ahead of Aron Smith and series leader Jason Plato.

And Turkington said the work the team carried out at the recent Dunlop tyre test influenced his decision to run the softer compound in the first race.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Turkington said: “I was not too concerned [about the soft tyre]. We simulated that here in our July test and generally when it gets warmer, the soft tyre works better. Of course it’s easier when you’re leading as you can manage things more, so I thought it was a good time to use it.

“We’ll have to change the car a little bit [for race two]. We changed it for the softs so we’ll have to go back a little bit. I can take the information from the other guys and hopefully still keep a fast car.”

Assessing his win, the Northern Irishman added: “You’ve got to focus 100 per cent the whole time. In hindsight I had great pace and the race looks easy, but you don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m pleased to start with a win and to convert pole.”

Turkington will also start the second race from pole after setting the fastest lap in the first race. The next 12-lap encounter gets underway at 14:35 BST.