Colin Turkington pleased to secure early advantage

Colin Turkington admitted he was delighted to come away from the opening rounds of the new BTCC season as championship leader on the back of a strong showing at Donington Park.

The defending champion qualified on pole in his WSR-run BMW 330i M Sport and picked up a solid second place finish in race of the campaign, having dropped behind the Honda of Dan Cammish during an early squabble on track with the Infiniti of Ash Sutton.

Race two however saw a masterclass from the four-time champion as he controlled proceedings from the front to wrap up his first victory of the campaign, taking the lead off the start and remaining out front throughout.

With additional weight on his car for race three thanks to the new ballast rules, Turkington wrapped up the weekend with tenth in race three and admitted he was pleased with how things had panned out.

“It’s great to be back racing again and I think it has put a smile on a lot of people’s faces again – it’s a fantastic feeling” he said. “To have a pole and a win is a real highlight from the weekend and importantly, we have bagged some good points across all three races, which is a reward for the hard work we put in during pre-season.

“We’ve seen this weekend that there is nothing between the pack and we have to keep working hard as we look towards next weekend at Brands Hatch. Each season, things get tighter which you come to expect, and we just have to push to stay at the front.”