'Positive weekend' for joint-leader Turkington

Defending British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington has emerged from Thruxton as the joint-championship leader after enjoying 'positive weekend' with two podium finishes.

The Team BMW driver scored two second place finishes as well as finishing ninth in race three to end the third meeting of the season with 102-points, tied with AmD Tuning's Rory Butcher in second.

As virtue of his two race victories so far this season, compared to Butcher's one, Turkington officially leads the title standings as the series heads to Croft next month.

Having produced a lap good enough for fourth on the grid on Saturday, Turkington said qualifying was key in setting him up for a strong weekend.

"It’s been a really positive weekend," Turkington told Crash.net. "It’s been great to score good points three times. We’ve had to work really hard this weekend to do that.

"It’s not easy getting a good balance around here. We got close to it. Thruxton is the sort of circuit that can either go for you or go against you.

"Qualifying was important and that set me up for a really good weekend.

"I knew I’d strung a good lap together and I couldn’t get near it again. That’s been my strength so far this year. Getting one lap out and that sets up your weekend."

The three-time champion twice finished second to his BMW team mate Andrew Jordan during the opening two races, but felt he had better pace than Jordan in race two.

Despite being within striking distance of making a move for the race lead on Jordan, Turkington recognised caution was the better act of valour at this stage in the season.

"I was keen to get us both over the line. My pace was maybe a little bit better but if you take a chance on a pass that you don’t quite pull off, the guys behind are on you," Turkington continued.

"It’s always nice to win but the points for P2 is still very good.

"Especially with your team mate, you need to be more cautious. It’s early in the season to be throwing caution to the wind."