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Colin Turkington first raced in the BTCC back in 2002 after winning the Ford Credit Fiesta Zetec Championship. For his first three seasons, the Northern Irishman competed for West Surrey Racing in an MG ZS, with factory backing coming in 2003-4. A single campaign with VX Racing followed in 2005 before Colin Turkington returned to WSR to race the RAC-liveried MG and BMW 320si machines between 2006 and 2009.
Turkington’s potential was realised in 2009, as he piloted his BMW to six victories and the overall Drivers’ crown despite late-season charges from past champions Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jason Plato.
Colin Turkington remains the only Ulsterman ever to win the BTCC, but did not return to defend his laurels. From 2010-12 he contested a number of World Touring Car and Scandinavian Touring Car events before making a highly anticipated return to home turf in 2013. Behind the wheel of a brand new BMW 1 Series (again for WSR), Colin quickly became a main championship contender and went on to claim his second title with the team in 2014.
The following year, he joined the fledgling and ambitious Team BMR, and after getting to grips with the front-wheel drive VW CC, claimed four victories en route to fourth in the final standings and a second consecutive Independents’ Trophy – the fifth of his career.
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing had a Jekyll and Hyde 2016. The team endured a tough start to the season as they got to grips with its quartet of newly-built Subaru Levorg GTs for Subaru’s maiden BTCC campaign. Come Oulton Park, though, they found their form. Turkington took a race one win – a first of five (Oulton Park, Croft, Snetterton and a Brands Hatch finale double) – which put him in overall Drivers’ Championship contention heading into the final weekend of the season as one of eight drivers in with a chance of taking the spoils.
He moves back to WSR, the scene of his two titles to date and will be back in rear-wheel drive machinery in the form of the BMW-backed 125i M Sport. Colin Turkington and rear-wheel drive is a formidable proposition…
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