Colin Turkington says that the ‘intensity of the final few weeks’ allows him to find extra focus in the run in to the British Touring Car Championship season, which holds its penultimate round at Silverstone this weekend.
The Team BMW driver heads into the second-to-last meeting of the year with an expanded 43-point advantage at the top of the points, thanks to a double podium last time out in the wet at Knockhill.
It means that Turkington could potentially secure the drivers’ championship a round early this weekend, even though the Northern Irishman still only has one win to his name in the current campaign.
With that in mind, Turkington sees no reason to change a successful formula, and he plans to continue his consistency around the Silverstone National circuit, where BMW drivers have only taken two victories since 1996 and Turkington himself has only won once, in 2015.
“The determination within Team BMW remains the same as ever and it’s 100 per cent business as usual on that front,” said Turkington. “Of course, we know we have to push our rivals to the limit, but if we keep doing what we do best, the results should follow.
“Now is not the time to change our strategy; winning has been the goal since the beginning and that hasn’t changed, so it’s important to keep our focus.
“Drawing on the experience from all departments within Team BMW will be the secret in ensuring we keep the pressure on and keep delivering the results.”
With three weeks having elapsed since the last round, Turkington and the WSR team have taken the extra time to plan for the last two meetings, whilst Turkington also admits that he is happy that the title will be decided before the month is out.
“We’ve had an extra week between events this time and it’s been really useful to thoroughly examine our recent progress and plan for the final two events. The 2018 Champion will be crowned in less than three weeks and within that time we will continue to be persistent in our preparation.
“I’m looking forward to this last stretch of the season and find that the intensity of the final few weeks releases an added level of focus for me. My pursuit of performance certainly heightens and I’m happy in that zone.
“This is one of the toughest championships in the world to win and I’m under no illusions of the journey ahead of me, but I’m prepared to give it all I have.
“We’ll be taking it one race at a time, but you can rest assured we’ll be throwing everything and more behind it.”