Team BMW’s King of Croft Colin Turkington scores landmark 70th win

30th July 2024

Colin Turkington underlined his status as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship’s King of Croft with a dominant 15th victory at the North-East circuit on Sunday for Team BMW.

The four-time champion stormed to pole on Saturday and drove perfectly in the opening race as he claimed a commanding victory by nearly two seconds, led every lap and set the fastest lap aboard his BMW 330e M Sport.

Not only was it his third win of 2024, it was also the 70th of his career and the 127th for WSR, moving them alone into second place on the BTCC’s all-time winners’ list.

Sixth place for Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill, BMW scooped the Manufacturer win for the race.

Having chosen to start the opener on the faster soft Goodyear tyre, he was mandated to switch to the hard compound for Race Two. He had to recover to finish 14th after some mid-race squabbles on-track.

While that was happening, Jake was in the middle of an inspired charge of his own from 16th on the grid to fifth; a result that leaves him second in the points table.

Starting 14th, Adam Morgan chose to start the opening race on the hard tyre and was limited to 13th as a result, but switching to the soft for Race Two, he charged forwards until a puncture led to an unplanned pitstop that dropped him to 18th.

The Lancashire racer produced his best result in Race Three as he followed Jake for much of the race and climbed from 17th to ninth.

The day’s results maintained BMW’s second place in the Manufacturers’ points with four triple-header rounds remaining.

Colin Turkington, Team BMW, said: “I’m genuinely frustrated with the weekend. Even after taking pole and having a strong win in Race One, with the pace we found with the BMW at Croft, we should have had a lot more. I wouldn’t have won Race Two on the hard tyre, but the plan was to set myself up for a good reversed-grid spot and see what we could do because the pace we had on the soft was really strong. Ultimately I’ve come out on the wrong end of two avoidable incidents that I didn’t feel responsible for and lost a lot of points not just for myself but for BMW as well. That really stings, but the team have done an excellent job on my car and the step forward we’ve taken bodes well for the next few rounds.”

BTCC.net © 2024
Follow us
Developed by BBGMedia Home
menu