Colin Turkington confident of making up ground

Colin Turkington admits he has a good chance to make up ground in the BTCC title race after qualifying in a solid third place at Croft.

The WSR driver slipped back to fifth in the points last time out at Thruxton which meant he carried less success ballast than normal into the weekend, but he failed to make it into the top ten in either free practice session.

Come qualifying however, Turkington was able to extract more pace from the BMW 330i M Sport and would spend a large part of the session on provisional pole.

Although shuffled back to third in the closing moments, the Northern Irishman will now hope to fight at the front across race day.

“It wasn’t easy today and the times are so close,” he said. “I feel we could have gone quicker, but all drivers will say the same, and to get P3 is a good end result. It was a bit of a challenge to get the car into the sweet spot in practice but we got close in qualifying and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

“I don’t think practice had been a true reflection of where everyone was because of the tyre strategies but we made it count when it mattered.

“There is a chance to make up ground in the points on Sunday, but I’m not thinking about the others – particularly going into race one. We just have to try and capitalise on where we have qualified and I love Croft, so I hope to be racing at the front.”