News : Current : Turkington crowned British Touring Car Champion in BMW 320si. : 06.10.2009


		06.10.2009 Turkington crowned British Touring Car Champion in BMW 320si. For the first time since 1993 a BMW driver, in the form of Colin Turkington, has won the British Touring Car Championship. The Northern Irishman held his nerve in a thrilling finale to end the season ahead of Jason Plato (Chevrolet) and Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall), who finished second and third respectively.

“It is everything I’ve worked for,” said Turkington, who races for Team RAC in the BTCC. “The pressure coming into the day was already immense. After leading the season for so long, I don’t think I could have taken someone taking the title away from me.” Turkington travelled to the season finale at Brands Hatch on 249 points after 27 races. Giovanardi (236) and Plato (221) still had a chance of clinching the overall victory going into the deciding three races. Plato, in particular, put the 27-year-old from Portadown under pressure: he became only the second driver in the history of the BTCC to win all three races on the final weekend, picking up maximum points. However, the championship leader was not to be distracted from his goal in his Super2000-spec BMW 320si. After finishing eighth and third, Turkington went into the final race with a three-point lead over Giovanardi. Plato was also lurking just eight points behind, just waiting for the BMW privateer to make a mistake. Turkington did not do his rivals this favour. “It was the race of my life,” said the champion, having finished runner-up in the 30th race of the season. “I had to get past (Giovanardi’s team-mate) Matt Neal because he was holding me up, backing me into Fabrizio. If he had gone past me I knew it would be over. So I went for it and took the lead. Jason then passed us all with a great manoeuvre, but I knew I was in the right position so long as I stayed in second place. I concentrated on driving the best two laps of my life at the end.” Joachim Winkelhock, in his Schnitzer Motorsport BMW 318i was the last BMW driver to win the BTCC title back in 1993. This is the fifth overall victory for BMW in this touring car championship. Turkington has been racing in the BTCC since 2002 and has 19 wins to his name to date. In 2007 he also won the BMW Sports Trophy, the renowned award for the most successful private BMW driver of the year. BMW has used the BMW Sports Trophy to support the wide range of privateers since the 1960s. The drivers can pick up points for the overall rankings in many racing series around the world.