Colin Turkington is hopeful he can be the first of the Team BMR quartet to secure a strong result in the new Subaru Levorg GT and believes the team have turned a corner in the development of the car since the last round of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton.
Turkington rounded out the top ten in the first free practice session at Oulton Park with a fastest lap time of 1:27.022, nine tenths of a second behind pace-setter Tom Ingram around the 2.2 mile Island configuration of the Cheshire circuit.
The 2009 and 2014 champion enters the weekend placed 22nd in the standings as the best performing BMR car thus far this campaign, a trend that continued in the first practice session as his team-mates Warren Scott, Jason Plato and James Cole finished the forty minute session 16th, 24th and 25th respectively.
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing have endured a tough start to life with their new model, but a two day test at Pembrey Circuit on the western Welsh coast provided a number of answers and Turkington believes there will be no repeat occurrence of the issues that forced the quartet of cars to be withdrawn from the last meeting at Thruxton just hours before the start of the first contest.
“We had a really productive two days in Wales,” he commented.
“It was the first opportunity we’ve had to put in some proper test miles and I’m pleased that we made some good gains with the chassis and engine. The issues we had at Thruxton all appear to be sorted and the team has left no stone unturned to ensure that we take a good step forward.
“I’ve been working as hard as I can in my own preparation and have managed to get some extra racing miles in various other cars just to make sure I’m as sharp as possible.
He also praised the morale and work ethic of the engineering staff at BMR for their perseverance in chasing performance with the car, and hopes he can be the one to bring them a just reward.
“Throughout this development period the spirit of the team has been unwavering, and they deserve a top result. I hope I can be the one to do that for them.
“I’ve also been blown away by the support of fans and I want to thank them for the loyalty and passion they have shown.”
The second practice session gets underway at 12:45.