Stunning BTCC comeback for Turkington at Oulton Park

TerraClean-sponsored touring car ace Colin Turkington pulled off a thrilling comeback to recover from starting last in race one, to win the final race of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) weekend at Oulton Park.

The four-time BTCC champion produced a legendary performance to take his 65th career victory, after a technical infraction meant Turkington had to start the first of three races on Sunday at the very back of the grid.

Starting 27th and dead last in race one, Turkington diligently made his way up the order to take home a ninth-place finish, scooping some championship points that would have seemed very unlikely at the start of the race.

Starting ninth in race two, Turkington again pulled off some scintillating laps and race craft to make his way up into fourth overall, putting him third for the reverse grid finale.

With rain in the air, Turkington launched an assault on the lead in race three, with a manoeuvre on team-mate Adam Morgan into the fast left Cascades bend earning him the lead. From there Turkington barely looked back, eventually coming home to take a win by almost two seconds from Jake Hill and Morgan, completing a BMW lockout of the podium.

Colin Turkington said: “It’s been the most amazing day. I was a bit down in the dumps on Saturday night knowing I had to start right at the back in P27. Oulton Park has been quite a good track for the BMW previously and although it can be tough to pass, we played our cards right and, in each race, it kept getting better and better.

“This victory means so much to me. I had to really graft for it, having started right at the back at the beginning of the day in the doldrums, to the top step of the podium. It really means a lot.

“Having three BMWs on the podium is fantastic. Jake [Hill] was on my case, but I could see where we were strong and where we were not – so it was nice in the last few laps to stretch my legs at the front.”

Colin Turkington’s ninth, fourth and first place finishes mean he sits fourth in the drivers’ championship, just nine points behind Jake Hill in third. The next round is at Croft in North Yorkshire from 29-30 July.