Colin Turkington and his West Surrey Racing team are confident of securing a second British Touring Car Championship title as a pairing, heading into this weekend’s season finale at Brands Hatch.
Championship leader Turkington has dominated proceedings since the fourth round of the season at Oulton Park in June, and heads into the final three races of the year with eight wins to his name and a 50-point lead over second-place man Jason Plato, with a maximum of 67 still available.
The strength of that lead was maintained largely thanks to three determined drives last time out at Silverstone, where the Northern Irishman battled his sole-remaining championship contender for race wins in the day’s first two races, before picking up a deserved third place in race three.
The 32-year-old heads into the weekend knowing that 18 points are all he needs to secure the 2014 crown, and insisted that he was in a calm mood ahead of his showdown with Plato.
“It’s a huge weekend for the team and I,” said Turkington, who is bidding to become the 15th driver to have won multiple BTCC championships. “Everyone has worked so hard for this and now is the time to get the job done. I’m just looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the eBay Motors BMW. I’m feeling relaxed and the car should be on the pace, as it has been throughout the year.
“In my mind I have to approach this like any other weekend and I’ve always said that attack is the best form of defence in the BTCC. Being conservative is not really an option as it can sometimes lead to more trouble – it’s best to be fighting at the front. I need to be on the same part of the track as Jason and I’m happy to go toe-to-toe with him if necessary.
“I’m sure it will be pretty intense, like it was at Silverstone last time out, but we’re up for the fight and I’m looking forward to it. I want this more than ever and I’m so focused on trying to win the championship, which would be just reward for the effort put in by everyone involved.”
Team Boss Dick Bennetts was also cautious in stating that the title was by no means sewn up, but remained confident that if the team remained professional throughout across the weekend, Turkington would be able to secure the championship.
“We’ll have a strategy meeting to discuss the permutations with Colin and the team,” said Bennetts. “The problem is that this is the British Touring Car Championship and any best laid plans can sometimes be hard to achieve. Anything can happen of course but I have the utmost confidence and belief in everyone in the team. Colin is an extremely quick, professional and intelligent driver so if anyone can get it done it’ll be him.”
And third driver Nick Foster was also looking forward to the weekend, as he looks to improve on a disappointing outing last season, and end his campaign on a high by helping his teammate to take the series crown.
“It’s a great driver’s track,” said Foster. “It’s really challenging with lots of undulations and different types of corners. Things didn’t go to plan there for me last season so I’m hoping to put that right by ending the season on a really good note, which I hope results in Colin winning the championship, eBay Motors taking the teams’ title and hopefully I’ll grab some good results for myself too.”