Turkington 'reaches potential' with P5 effort

British Touring Car Championship leader Colin Turkington believes he maximised the potential of his ballast laden BMW 3 Series in qualifying after setting the fifth fastest time at Snetterton.

The defending three-time champion appeared to struggle during the practice running after setting the 15th and 13th best times during FP1 and FP2.

However, Turkington produced a sensational lap come qualifying to secure a slot on the third row of the grid alongside Jason Plato in sixth and directly ahead of his chief title rival and BMW team mate Andrew Jordan in seventh.

The Team BMW driver says running the championship ballast has proved a tougher task compared to Oulton Park.

"P5 is a good result for us. It’s been a tough day. We’ve had to graft really hard. It’s not easy to get the car balanced with 54 kilos. I think we reached the potential in qualifying," Turkington told Crash.net.

"Reasons to be happy but tomorrow we’ll have to work hard.

"It’s been tough here, no doubt. We coped remarkably well at Oulton Park but Snetterton is more difficult. It’s more stop-start in the middle sector.

"It makes it more difficult to get the car balanced. You’re always fighting a particular axle, but that’s what it’s designed to do."

Despite the WSR 3 Series feeling good during last month's tyre test at the same venue, Turkington admitted retuning the car to match the current track conditions proved a challenge.

"We knew it was going to be hard. The car felt good in the test. It’s like what happened in 2018. You dial the car in for that day in July but when you come here for the race weekend the track has moved so you’ve almost got to start again," Turkington continued.

"That’s been the challenge today, retuning the car for those sort of conditions.

"I got a tow and everything I had to. Without a tow I would’ve been stuffed! I had two laps on pretty much the same time."