Reigning champion Colin Turkington admitted he “knew what he was up against” in the British Touring Car Championship qualifying session at Thruxton.
Given that the current standings leader carried maximum success ballast into the half-hour session – and the high-speed 2.4-mile circuit tends to favour front-wheel drive machinery – the four time champion admitted he knew he was facing an uphill battle on one-lap pace.
Managing eighth in qualifying for the opening race tomorrow, Turkington was “pretty pleased” with the result as he felt he had maximised the lap time, which in itself was an improvement on the performance of what he managed in the BMW 3 Series last year.
“I’m pretty pleased with the performance today,” said Turkington. “Of course I’d like to be starting higher up than the fourth row, but coming here with maximum ballast, we knew what we were up against.
“I’ve qualified faster than last year and the improvements to the car are clear; I could really push it. I definitely feel we maximised what was possible laptime-wise.”
The Nothern Irishman is also hopeful that his race pace will prove more favourable, particularly in hot conditions on the highly-abrasive track surface.
“Tomorrow should be better again and the hotter, the better for us,” he explained.
“The BMW really looks after its tyres and over a race distance and that’s going to be a big factor in making sure we get three good points scores. A podium would be very nice.”
The opening race of the British Touring Car Championship at Hampshire’s Thruxton circuit is scheduled to get underway tomorrow morning [20 September] at 11:40 BST.