« more time there » to qualify
Despite the extra weight in his car thanks to his second place in the Championship standings, Turkington set the tone in both free practice sessions on a circuit where he has won no less than twelve victories in the past, and went a lot towards qualifying like the man to beat
The onset of rain in the previous session would offer the drivers the added challenge of a wet circuit, with Turkington finally finishing with the fifth fastest time when the checkered flag fell
Moving to third place thanks to penalties elsewhere, the WSR driver now hopes to add to his winning tally in Sunday’s three races and said he is well placed to try to close the gap with the current leader Ash Sutton points
“I’m really happy with this result,” he said. “Obviously the conditions changed from free practice when we had the dominant package – so hopefully we have that for tomorrow We also had a very fast car in the wet, so being third is great
« The session was really all about timing and setting up your lap when it was really wet I would have liked another bite, because I think there was more time in there, but then with the few red flags, the track fell towards the end All said, that puts me in an excellent position for tomorrow «
With teammate Tom Oliphant alongside in the second row, team manager Dick Bennetts was pleased with how Saturday had gone for the BMW team
« We had a good pace in the dry practice sessions this morning and that should bode well for tomorrow, » he said. “We’re doing well in the wet too, but the humidity takes its toll with the rear-wheel drive so being third and fourth is great Looking at the championship we have the right people behind us on the grid We should have a capable car to run up front and Croft has been kind enough to us over the years so hopefully that will continue »