Colin Turkington won the inaugural Goodyear Wingfoot Award on Saturday, rewarding his impressive and consistent qualifying performance throughout the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.
Goodyear established the Wingfoot Award to celebrate the driver with the best qualifying results across the season, awarding points based on each driver’s qualifying positions at every race weekend. For this weekend’s season finale at Brands Hatch, Turkington qualified eighth to secure his title as the inaugural recipient of the Wingfoot Award.
Turkington will be fighting for his fifth BTCC drivers’ championship on Sunday. The Team BMW driver currently leads the championship with 309 points, but four other drivers - Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish, Tom Ingram and Rory Butcher - are still in contention for the 2020 title.
This weekend’s nail-biting finale brings to a close a thrilling BTCC season which has been Goodyear’s first since becoming Official Tyre Supplier. Every car on the BTCC grid races with Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport race tyres, and the Goodyear team works closely with teams up and down the pitlane to maximise their performance.
This dedication is particularly important for qualifying, where this season’s action has shown battles to be closer than ever. At Brands Hatch earlier in the season, Turkington and teammate Tom Oliphant crossed the line with the exact same lap time, down to the thousandth-of-a-second. In a field this competitive, Turkington’s consistency deserves to be rewarded.
Andy Marfleet, Goodyear’s Marketing Director UK & Ireland, said: “Colin is a deserving winner of our Wingfoot Award. Qualifying sessions have been just as exciting as the races this season and we’re pleased to reward this important performance and recognise Colin’s success with the Goodyear Wingfoot Award. It’s been a fascinating BTCC season and we’re all eagerly awaiting the final races of the year.”
Speaking to ITV after receiving the Goodyear Wingfoot Award trophy, Turkington said: “That’s been a great reward for our qualifying performances all year. It has been probably one of our biggest strengths, getting the car up onto the first couple of rows consistently, nearly every weekend. Of course that dictates such a big part of Sunday, so I think it’s a just reward.”
The 2020 British Touring Car Championship will crown its champion on Sunday with three races on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.
