Colin Turkington “pays the price” for Snetterton

Colin Turkington insisted he had “paid the price” for his success at Snetterton after a tough weekend on track as the BTCC headed to Brands Hatch for round three.

Turkington had secured a first win of the campaign in Norfolk to move up the championship standings and carried 57kg of success ballast on his BMW 330i M Sport into the weekend as a result.

The additional weight would hamper the triple champion as he qualified back in 14th spot, whilst his hopes of points in race one were then ended by contact from Sam Osborne’s Ford at Clearways, which left him down in 20th spot,

Having only managed to get up to 17th in race two, Turkington salvaged a handful of points from race three with 14th spot meaning he had slipped to fourth in the standings heading to Oulton Park next time out; a circuit where the BMW is traditionally strong.

““It’s been a tough day for me,” he said. “It was difficult to qualify well with the weight in the car, given such a competitive field, so we were on the back foot. The car slowly improved but it was very difficult to make my way through the pack when I wasn’t significantly quicker than anybody.

“We scraped a few points at the end, but I paid the price for my success at Snetterton. We were trying to go forward all day, the last race was my best, and the BMW was most competitive then. I take two points home, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying.

“Hopefully it swings back at Oulton, and we score some good points.”