Turkington roars into contention: BTCC Rnd 13/14/15

If anyone thought the fight for the BTCC title was going to come down to MG versus Honda, then maybe they should think again after BMW man Colin Turkington dominated the fifth round of the year at Croft.

Having returned to the championship this year for the first time since winning the title back in 2009, the Northern Irishman was a class apart in the North East as he picked up the biggest weekend score of anyone this season to rocket right into championship contention.

The eBay Motors man went into the weekend hoping to challenge towards the front, with the former airfield circuit having been one where rear-wheel drive cars have always been strong in the past.

Turkington duly showed that the new NGTC-spec 125i M-Sport was just as strong as the Super 2000-spec 320si it replaced as he stormed to pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session; leaving it until the final seconds to beat MG’s Jason Plato to top spot on the grid.

With rain expected for race day, the decision over when teams would elect to run their softer compound Dunlop tyres became even more challenging – with Turkington’s WSR-run squad springing something of a surprise by putting all three cars on the soft tyre for race one.

From the moment the lights went out, it was clear it had been the right call, as Turkington drove away from the chasing pack to take his second win of the year. Team-mate Rob Collard may well have followed him home had a rocket-start from sixth not ended with a spin at turn two after contact from Plato’s MG.

It was therefore the Hondas of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden that followed Turkington home, albeit nearly ten seconds down the road, while Nick Foster made the most of his tyres to come from twelfth to fourth in the second of the BMWs.

Plato went backwards to fifth ahead of Andy Jordan and Sam Tordoff with a huge late battle for eighth being won by British GT Champion Michael Caine, who stormed through the pack on his first race in Addison Lee Motorbase’s new NGTC-spec Ford Focus.

Race two came around at the same time as rain hit the circuit, leaving teams in a quandary as to which tyres to choose. The majority deemed that slicks would remain the order of the day, with a select few gambling that the rain was going to get heavy enough to need wets.

MG pair Plato and Tordoff were amongst those to gamble and when they rocketed to the front at the start, it seemed like the team had made the right call.

It was soon apparent however that the rain wasn’t going to get worse and the two KX Energy-backed cars would plummet like stones down the order to end up being lapped before the finish.

That meant it was Turkington who again emerged victorious although he couldn’t afford to relax with Shedden putting him under constant pressure throughout. Eventually however, the defending champion had to concede that victory would be beyond him.

Behind the top two, there was something of a surprise as Tom Onslow-Cole put his VW Passat onto the podium for the first time since Thruxton ahead of Neal, Jordan and Collard. Collard had actually taken the flag in fifth but as handed a penalty post-race for the move that saw him get ahead of his Honda rival.

With the top eight on the grid reversed for a wet race three, it was Adam Morgan who started out front, but the Toyota man was unable to maintain his advantage off the line as Foster led the way into turn one.

Staying out front through the early laps, Foster would lose the lead to Neal and gradually slip down the order, leaving Neal to go on and secure a victory that cemented his place at the head of the standings.

It wasn’t straightforward for the Honda man however, who was pushed all the way by Turkington and then almost crashed on no fewer than two occasions on the final lap after hitting standing water.

As it was, Neal kept his cool to remain top of the pile going into the summer break; marking the fourth successive season he holds the points lead at this stage of the year.

“I think I’m going to ask them to end the season at the half-way stage!” he said. “It’s been a good weekend but there were a few brown trouser moments on that final lap and I thought I was going to end up in the barriers at one point. Leading the standings is good but I can’t relax as Gordon and Andy are both quick, the MGs have been strong and now the BMW has shown what it can do. It’s going to be a challenge.”

Behind the top two, Jordan took third, while the top six was rounded out by Shedden, Dave Newsham and Plato – who made the most of the conditions to come back from his earlier problems in race two.

Neal’s advantage in the points is now 19 points over Jordan, with Plato and Shedden a further 17 points in arrears; Plato being third in the standings by virtue of the fact he has won four races while Shedden has taken victory only twice.

Turkington’s score of 61 points from a maximum of 67 means he is only four points away from the battle for third, although he was quick to downplay

“That was pretty much the ideal weekend for me,” he said. “The car was good in all conditions and it was important for us to make the most of the fact that this is one of our strongest circuits. We made a good call to use the soft tyre in the first race, as we wanted to make sure we had the opportunity to run it with the weather forecast being as it was. We took full advantage there, although race two was more difficult with the extra weight.

“Race three was a big challenge with the rain. Visibility was poor and I was losing out to Matt a bit in the quick stuff, but to come away from the weekend with three podiums is great. We’re well placed in the points but it’s still early days and it’s too early for me to be looking at the championship. We have to focus on improving the car even more and make sure we keep picking up the points.”

In the Jack Sears Trophy for Super 2000-spec cars, Jake Hill celebrated his debut in the series with victory in race one, having been given the chance to compete in place of Liam Griffin when he was sidelined by business commitments. Fellow Ford man David Nye then came out on top of a huge battle to take his first win in race two.

Normal service was resumed in race three however, with Lea Wood taking his sixth success of the year to move two wins clear of Griffin in the race for the inaugural title.