Colin Turkington stays composed to start new BTCC season on front foot

The Portadown man narrowly missed out on a trophy in the day’s delayed opener by coming home in fourth and eight seconds adrift of the Hyundai i30 Fastback N of eventual winner Tom Ingram.

The Ford Focus of reigning champion Ash Sutton was second and Jake Hill (BMW 330e M Sport) third.

The Race Two outcome was a repeat with Ingram, Sutton and Hill locking out the podium places, while Turkington slipped back to fifth, finishing behind Josh Cook’s Toyota Corolla GR Sport.

Things improved for the reversed grid contest, however, as Turkington made up three places to close right up on the bumper of Aiden Moffat’s Toyota Corolla GR Sport.

However, hopes of a win proved difficult because as well as hunting down Moffat, he also had to fend off a dogged Sutton.

At the chequered flag, 0.520 seconds separated the two, with Moffat’s larger allocation of hybrid power proving the difference as he was able to maintain a big enough gap on the Leicestershire circuit’s straights.

“It was a solid day for me without being spectacular,” reflected Turkington, who is provisionally fourth in the standings on 41 points – just one behind Hill, eight off Sutton, and 17 adrift of Ingram.

“It is the perfect way to open the season with a fourth, a fifth and a second.

“So, although I didn’t grab any headlines, I opened my account nicely. A big thanks to Team BMW as I am leaving here feeling very confident.”

At the Silverstone 500, Dan Harper’s frustrating start to the defence of his British GT Championship GT3 drivers’ title continued as he could only muster 17th place with Michael Johnston.

A winner of the same event 12 months ago, a poor qualifying performance set the tone for “a tough weekend” despite repeated efforts to extract more pace from their Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

There was also disappointment for Ahoghill’s Brandon McCaughan, this time in the British GB4. He lost ground in the battle for a £50,000 cash prize after completing Saturday’s opener down in sixth following a stall on the start line.

With the weather playing havoc, organisers had to reduce Sunday’s schedule to a single race. Despite a spin as he pursued second position, and a 10-second jump start penalty, he crossed the line in eighth.

Meanwhile, Kris Meeke extended his winning start to the Portuguese Rally Championship with his stand-in co-driver Stuart Loudon at Rali Terras D’Aboboreira on Saturday.

Meeke – who rolled his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 multiple times during Friday’s shakedown stage – repaid the efforts of team mechanics by going fastest on all seven special stages to secure the victory by 11.1 seconds.