Team BMW’s Colin Turkington took his fifth win of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Donington Park with Team BMW on Sunday while Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill re-took the lead of the Drivers’ points.
The weekend was capped off by Team BMW claiming the Teams’ Trophy as the highest scoring entrants of the weekend for a second straight event.
Northern Irishman Turkington started Race One from the outside of the front row and launched straight into the lead at Redgate, from where he controlled the race and powered to a 72nd career victory in his BMW 330e M Sport.
Hill, the Kent-born racer, started seventh and passed three cars in one move at the final turn on lap four; the Kent racer then grabbed the final podium spot with an inspired pass with five laps to go at The Esses. Adam Morgan enjoyed an exciting race-long battle with a rival to move up to sixth, ensuring a brilliant start to the day for WSR.
With light rain falling ahead of Race Two, Turkington dropped to second in the mixed conditions off the line, but the four-time champion showed strong pace and pressured Ashley Sutton until the end to secure second.
Hill, the BTCC's #24, took an 11th podium of 2024 to extend his newly-reacquired series lead as Morgan enjoyed another great race with the Lancashire racer going one better than Race One and finishing fifth.
With the top 11 reversed for the Race Three start, all BMWs were mired in the midfield and had to battle their way forward. Morgan had fought his way to fourth before damage caused him to lose pace and drop behind his team-mates.
Turkington put on his recovery drive of the season as contact at the hairpin caused a spin, after he had moved up to seventh on lap three. Dropping all the way to 17th, the #20 reclaimed seventh at the finish.
The #24 carefully managed his way forward in the final race of the day to finish in fifth, while Morgan was just behind his Team BMW teammate in eighth with that resulting in WSR securing nine top-eight finishes over the race day.
The Kent-born racer now takes a nine-point lead in the standings to the next round at Silverstone, while BMW are just two points from the lead of the Manufacturers’ Championship, which they are aiming to win for a record 10th time.
Colin Turkington, Team BMW, said: “It’s been a great weekend for me, and it’s been a lot of fun. Race One was obviously the highlight winning from second on the grid, and another podium in Race Two was fantastic in tricky conditions, especially the first lap – but my BMW 3 series kept improving with each race, and by Race Three it felt the best of the whole weekend. The opening phase was going my way and I was up to seventh but unfortunately I got turned around at the Melbourne loop by a concertina behind me, and that could very easily have been the race over and no points, but such was the pace we had today I was able to get back to seventh. I leave happy. Very tired, but happy and we’re in a very good place going into the last two meetings.”
Adam Morgan, Team BMW, said: “It’s been a very eventful day. It’s a shame to end it like that as we were on for a really good points haul. We had a fifth in Race Two, a sixth in Race One, and the BMW has been really fast all weekend and I’ve been really happy pushing the car and seeing what it can do. Unfortunately I made a small mistake and hit the tyre stack at the chicane, and that just put the steering out of sync. I had a couple of lock ups and it was tricky to push hard towards the end. However, with three top-tens, we’ve caught up in the championship, and I’m looking forward to Silverstone.”
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, said: “I’m feeling pretty happy as I’m leading the British Touring Car Championship again. We have a nine-point lead, which is fantastic, and we’ve just had a nice day with two thirds and a fifth, which is great considering we started seventh in Race One. Overall, it’s just been a good day and we’ve scored lots of points, with huge thanks to the WSR team and Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “It’s been a great day at Donington. All three BMWs finished all three races, though maybe a bit battle-scarred after Race Three. Colin took a win and a third, though unfortunately he got turned around but came from 17th to seventh. Jake had two podiums and Adam had a great day as well, so it’s been a very good weekend for Team BMW and Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport. Jake’s now nine points in the lead of the Drivers’ championship, and we’ve closed the gap in the Manufacturers’ points to two. Now we have a month to do our homework and be ready for Silverstone.”
