Colin Turkington confident of “hitting the ground running” at Brands Hatch

Defending champion Colin Turkington says he feels confident that West Surrey Racing can ‘hit the ground running’ when the new BTCC season kicks off at Brands Hatch this weekend.

The team heads into the first round of the campaign hoping to build on an encouraging performance during the season launch test at the same circuit last week, where the new BMW 330i M Sport was right on the pace from the outset.

With more to come as the team uncovers more about the all new car, Turkington admitted that the focus for the opening round was to try and pick up as many points as possible, with the Northern Irishman confident in the potential of the car.

“The focus for this weekend is to start from a good base setup, learn as quickly as we can and score well in each race,” he said. “I’m confident we can hit the ground running and following our promising test last week we can be excited about the potential of the new 3 Series.

“This is the first time I’ve been able to continue with WSR following a victorious season and I’m thrilled we can do this is in a new car for Team BMW. I’ve been working closely with our engineering team recently and we’re doing all we can to fast track our understanding of the 330i. This is the area I need to hone in on.”

Turkington’s ultimate goal will be to try and join Andy Rouse as a four-time champion come the season end, and he insisted he would be taking each race as it comes to try and achieve his goal.

“The grid looks as strong as ever and I’m prepared to battle hard for points,” he said. “It won’t be easy to retain my title but ultimately that is the target for sure. My goal was to improve myself as a driver for this season and see where that takes us. For now I’ll be taking it one race at a time.

“The greatest show in town is about to get going and I couldn’t be happier to be involved.”