Colin Turkington paid tribute to former Silverline Subaru BMR Racing team mate Jason Plato after his departure from the outfit last month, hailing the role the duo played in developing the team’s Subaru Levorg challenger.
Turkington, who claimed an historic first victory in the British Touring Car Championship for the Japanese manufacturer at Oulton Park, signed for Team BMR at the end of the 2014 season after securing his second driver’s title.
He would be joined by runner-up Plato at Warren Scott’s outfit for the following season, before going on to secure another Independents title behind the wheel of the Volkswagen CC in his maiden campaign with the team. Fireworks were predicted by some quarters; they never materialized.
After Plato brought manufacturer support to the Buntingford-based team in Subaru, both were faced with the task of developing the Levorg GT from scratch into a thoroughbred race winner. Turkington succeeded first, although Plato would later match the feat in his 500th career start at Knockhill on the championship’s annual venture north of the Scottish border.
Turkington announced his departure from the team after two seasons at the annual Autosport Show in January, but spoke to TouringCars.net about the instrumental role the pair played in transforming the team into a championship-challenging outfit once more ahead of 2017.
“I think in any team, your team mate is who you’re measured against – from go-karts to Formula 1, your team mate is the guy you’re trying to beat.
“I guess with Jason [Plato] having won the series twice, me having won the series twice, Warren did put together a great team and there was fireworks predicted, but in all honesty it never happened.
“We’re both smart enough to know that to progress the car, particularly the Subaru, we had to work together, there was no point us having our own agendas. We both really wanted to win, but we worked really well together, we both brought a lot to the table and I think that’s why we had the success that we had in a short period of time.
“I have absolutely no regrets, and I was able to learn from Jason, and I’m sure vice-versa he might have picked one or two things up from me. It was a good relationship.”
Turkington is set to announce his plans for next season in the upcoming weeks, ahead of the official Season Launch at Donington Park on March 16th.