Reigning champion Colin Turkington says he is aiming to “maximise every opportunity” that comes his way across the trio of British Touring Car Championship races at Silverstone.
The four-time champion – who currently sits second in the Drivers’ standings just 16 points adrift of leader Ash Sutton – managed eighth in opening practice and tenth in the following session ahead of qualifying.
Throughout the half-hour session, Turkington worked together with team-mate Tom Oliphant to utilise the slipstream around the 1.6-mile National layout, ultimately finishing the session in fourth just five-thousandths-of-a-second clear of Oliphant in fifth.
With 54kg of championship success ballast aboard his BMW 330i M Sport, Turkington admitted he was “really pleased” with the result given the weight he had to carry coupled with the typically tight margins that are expected during qualifying at Silverstone.
“I’m really pleased to be on the second row with a heavy car,” said Turkington.
“The strategy worked well and Tom and I could both help each other with the slipstream, which is so important around here.”
With a red flag stoppage with only five minutes into the session due to contact between James Gornall’s Audi and Jack Butel’s Mercedes – followed by intermittent showers dampening the track surface – Turkington admitted the session was far-from-straightforward, but felt he had better speed in qualifying trim than he had previously in practice.
“The red flag meant that, because of our position in the pitlane, we were at the back of the pack when we resumed, so it took a bit longer to get the tyres up to temperature,” he explained.
“But the speed we had was good – better than at any point in practice – and we’ll just see what tomorrow brings and try to maximise every opportunity that comes our way.”
The opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone is scheduled to get underway at 11:27 BST tomorrow [27 September].