Turkington hails 'perfect car' after landmark 25th BTCC pole

"It’s not often that the car is in the perfect place for you and it’s doing exactly what you want, and that’s what I had today." - Colin Turkington

Simon Evans

14 May 2022

Colin Turkington (GBR) - Team BMW BMW 330e M

Team BMW's Colin Turkington said the balance of his West Surrey Racing prepared BMW 330e M Sport was in the 'perfect place' after four-time champion secured his 25th British Touring Car Championship pole position in qualifying at Brands Hatch.

The 40-year-old produced a vintage performance to lead a BMW top-four qualifying lockout, claiming pole position by a dominant near 0.2s margin around one of the shortest laps of the season.

Turkington's 47.539s lap pulverised Tom Ingram's existing qualifying lap record by almost 0.5s.

"It was a really strong performance for the 330e," Turkington told Crash.net. "We knew it was going to be super close coming into the weekend.

"I’m obviously conscious of that as track position is so important here. We’ve had a strong day. The car took a big step forward from free practice to qualifying.

"It’s not often that the car is in the perfect place for you and it’s doing exactly what you want, and that’s what I had today. The team did a great job to engineer the car like that.

"The biggest challenge was trying to not push too hard, just let it flow and get a clear lap and do the time."

With the BMWs securing a convincing top-four lockout, Turkington believes the prior resurfacing to some of the areas of the circuit played into the 330e's hands.

"I think the resurfacing at Paddock Hill and Graham Hill has really helped us this weekend. Graham Hill corner has been a slightly weak corner for us in the past because the grip was so low," Turkington continued.

"The grip has doubled compared to what it used to be so that’s really played into our favour.

"With the ideal lap time there was probably a bit more to be had, but you can only bite off so much. I’m really pleased. Someone told me it’s my 25th pole, so that’s a nice landmark.

"A bit of hybrid helps but Brands Indy has always been a handling circuit. The most difficult corners are trying to get a good exit out of Graham Hill and get cleanly out of Clearways, so it’s mostly chassis."