Photo: PSP Images

Rob Collard relishing inter-team battle ahead of Knockhill

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West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard says he feels the progress made on the team’s BMW 125i M-Sport over the last two years has enabled him to go toe-to-toe with Colin Turkington on the double champion’s return to the team.

Turkington took a dominant championship win in the 1-Series in 2014 in a year where Collard struggled to match his pace, but in 2017 the pair are separated by just two points heading into the seventh round of the season at Knockhill.

Collard admitted it had taken him time to adapt to the NGTC regulations, having been extremely comfortable in the team’s old 3-Series which was finally retired at the end of the 2012 season.

And this increased confidence means he is in the thick of a championship fight for the second year in a row as the BTCC heads north of the border.

“We’re free to race as you saw in race two and three [at Snetterton] but we obviously have to be very respectful of each other. We did two or three corners side by side [in race two] without making contact,” said Collard to TouringCarTimes.

“If you go back to 2011 and 2012 when we were in the old 3-Series, I had that absolutely nailed and was as quick as anybody in that car. When the NGTC car came out I really didn’t like it to drive.

“In 2013 and 2014 I couldn’t get the car to do what I wanted it to do. We made some updates in 2015 and 2016 and we really have got the car how I like it now, 95 per cent of the time.”

The 48-year-old has always been strong at Knockhill, and is hoping to improve his qualifying performance this weekend, which has still proved to be his bugbear in 2017.

“People say I’m getting better with age, which is a compliment in some ways! We’ve really focused on fitness and engineering, and WSR have given me a really stable platform to work from,” said Collard.

“Qualifying is slightly better than last year but we’ve still got to find a chunk of time. Hopefully at Knockhill we can be quick because we’re always quick there.

“Fingers crossed we can be in the top six, then I’d be quite happy. But it’s hard qualifying with weight all the time. The car has got the pace, but it is fickle!”