2009 British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington took to the Brands Hatch Indy circuit today (Thursday), as he stepped up his preparations for his racing comeback in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Turkington will compete in at least three rounds with the WSR BMW team, including the Brands Hatch event on 17/18 July, and the Northern Irishman admits being back at the circuit where he was crowned British champion last year brought it all back.
“Even when I checked into the Thistle Hotel last night it brought back memories of a party!” he joked.
“It’s great to be back at Brands, and obviously I’ll be looking forward to the race here in July, and I’ve got recent knowledge of the track having raced here last year.
“It’s not all plain sailing though; it’s the same car as last year but we’re running on different tyres so we have some work to do to get the car quicker.”
The Northern Irishman was elated at being back behind the wheel. He said;
“I’m delighted really; it’s been a frustrating start to the season not having any racing to focus on.
“It’s important to keep the momentum in my career after such a good year last year, and it would be a shame to completely sit out this year, so it’s great to be back in a touring car.”
Turkington admits he is excited at the prospect of new challenges lying ahead.
“I’m happy that we’re doing a few World Touring Car races – it’s a bit different and a chance for us to experience new things and go to a lot of new tracks that I haven’t been to before – it’s quite exciting.”
But having not driven a racing car competitively for several months, Turkington admits he’s getting used to it all again.
“I haven’t driven anything competitively since last year so it took a few laps to get a feel for it again, but I’ve gone OK this afternoon.”