Reigning champion Colin Turkington praised his team-mate Tom Oliphant for “great teamwork” in the final British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park.
The four-time champion enjoyed another solid points haul at the Cheshire circuit, placing fourth and third in the opening two races before progressing in the final race with 54 kilos of success ballast aboard his BMW 3 Series.
Brands Hatch race three winner Oliphant also enjoyed a strong start and pressurised leader Adam Morgan in the early stages before the call was made to switch the two BMWs around to give Turkington a shot at attacking Morgan’s lead, with the understanding the pair would switch back if Turkington was unsuccessful.
However, the plan was foiled by a red flag being called, truncating the race to a ten-lap encounter and denying Turkington more of an opportunity to go for the lead and the opportunity to give the position back to Oliphant.
The current standings leader told ITV post-race that he owed his team-mate a favour later in the season for playing the team game, and praised his willingness to work as a team.
“Congratulations to Adam and his team, great job on their side. Once again, for Team BMW it’s fantastic to have two cars on the podium,” Turkington said.
“I owe Tom a beer tonight because he let me past to take a go at Adam, unfortunately we ran out of laps. But it was a good way to end my day, back on the podium.
“There wasn’t much of a conversation it was just an indicator right! We talk about these things before we race. I was going to have a go at Adam and if I couldn’t get past then I’d give the place back to Tom.
“I owe him one at some stage later in the season, but great teamwork by Team BMW. It’s all about scoring those manufacturer points.”
Questioned whether he believed he could have passed Morgan for the win had the red flag not ended proceedings prematurely, Turkington admitted he was hoping tyre degradation in the closing stages would have played to his advantage, but was more than happy to settle for second given the bigger picture of the championship battle.
“You can never be sure but I could see that I was strong at the hairpin in braking and traction. There may have been an opportunity there over the last few laps, when I’d have been hoping Adam’s tyres dropped,” he said.
“Oulton Park is a tough circuit to pass on and Adam is a quality driver so for sure it wasn’t going to be easy. But for me also it’s important to score points and not take too many risks at this stage, so great day for me.”