Colin Turkington will hope to secure a second win at the wheel of the Team RAC BMW 320si as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads to Oulton Park this weekend for the fifth meeting of the season.
The Northern Irish driver took his first win with the new car in the opening race at Croft last time out but then suffered disappointment in race two when he was forced to retire following an incident with Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi. It meant he started the final race from the back of the grid and had to settle for ninth place - bringing a weekend that had promised much to a disappointing finish.
Eager to forget the second and third races in North Yorkshire, Turkington will now hope to fight for wins again at Oulton Park and - like fellow BMW driver Mat Jackson - he said he felt confident that the BMW could be a strong package at the Cheshire venue.
"We have a quick car now in qualifying and race trim," he said. "We're quick at the end of a race as well which is an advantage. Provided I can qualify on the first few rows at Oulton then hopefully the BMW's rear-wheel-drive will do the rest at the start just as it did at Croft.
"That second race at Croft was such a shame. I really felt comfortable and even with maximum ballast after winning race one the car felt pretty much the same. I was pulling away, but then hit the oil under braking…
"The win was so satisfying, though. We've had to learn about the BMW from scratch and I've had to learn how to adapt to rear-wheel-drive and suddenly we'd cracked it. There's also a great satisfaction from seeing what a top-quality field you've beaten - it is so competitive this year."
Early season teething problems with the new BMW means Turkington is currently down in sixth place in the championship standings but, despite having just half the points of current title leader Jason Plato, he said anything could still happy in the second half of the season.
"Really, I need to find consistent finishing form, with lots of podium finishes like last year," he said. "I'm not in such a tricky position as Jason or Fabrizio will probably end up being, thinking about the championship and keeping out of situations. I'm just going all out for wins.
"But we've still got Oulton to go before we reach the half-way point of the season and if I can have a good run there and again at Donington in July then who knows?"
