Colin Turkington was ‘incredibly proud’ to secure the 100th win for BMW in the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton, with the Northern Irishman moving up to third in the championship as a result.
Turkington enjoyed a lights-to-flag win in the final, reversed-grid race of the day to secure his second win of the season and his 43rd career win. But more importantly, the win was also the 100th outright victory for BMW in the BTCC.
“I’m incredibly proud to take the 100th BTCC win for BMW,” said Turkington. “[It is] a company with such an incredible record of success in touring car racing, and doubly so because I grew up watching Jo Winkelhock and Steve Soper and wishing one day I could do the same as them.
“We didn’t have the fastest car today at what isn’t traditionally a rear-wheel-drive circuit, but we definitely worked the hardest to make sure we had enough pace when it counted.”
Turkington had earlier finished seventh and sixth respectively in the day’s first two races, and admits that he doesn’t think a win would have been possible without the grid reversal, even though he went unchallenged in the race.
“Without the reversed-grid pole, I’m not sure we could have won today, but we’ve made it work for us and it’s a very special day for the whole team.”
WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts added that he was especially proud to have taken the 100th win for BMW, given the team’s 11-year association with the German marque.
“We are immensely proud to have scored BMW’s 100th win in the British Touring Car Championship,” said Bennetts, who is running a factory-supported BMW campaign for the first time in 2017. “We’ve run BMWs since 2007 and they’ve been a fantastic partner throughout that time.
“We were fortunate to have Colin drawn on pole for Race Three, but he made the most of it and drove beautifully.
“Colin and Rob [Collard] are now third and fourth in the points and we’re leading the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ standings, so it’s been a very satisfying weekend.”