T​urkington wins Fourth BTCC title in intense Season Finale

T​he title contention narrowed down from five to three realistic potentials (Colin Turkington, Andrew Jordon, and Dan Cammish) as we closed down on Race 3 of the weekend, with Andrew Jordon of the BMW Piretek Racing car only two championship points away from claiming the title himself.

T​he weekend itself was left action-packed and dramatic, even with BTCC veteran and former champion Jason Plato taking up a victory in Race 3, two years since last being victorious in a race.

Ever since his debut in 2002 at Olton Park, following his win in the Ford Credit Fiesta Zetec Championship, Turkington had started his BTCC journey with the first three years with West Surrey Racing (WSR), of whom he has (as of the end of the 2019 season) won three of his titles for.

H​e drove the MG ZS for WSR, following a factory backing from 2003 to 2004. Despite a year dedicated to race for the VXR Racing team, he returned to WSR to race the RAC-liveried MG as well as the BMW 320si machines between 2006 and 2009.

F​rom here onwards, it was clear that Turkington was a strong potential for the title.

A​s the start of his success and portrayal of his raw talent, he grasped six victories that year and claimed his first ever BTCC championship title.

With a mixture of World and Scandenavian Touring Car races to follow post-2010, he eventually made a return upon home turf in 2013, racing once again for WSR. It wouldn't be too long until claiming another title for WSR in the all-new BMW 1 Series, re-asserting his capability to win the overall drivers' championship.

U​ntil returning to WSR later in 2017 to race in the BMW 125i M-Sport, he grasped many victories racing from the front-wheel drive Volkswagen CC for Team BMR, to the "Jekyll and Hyde" 2016 season where the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing car took him to fourth in the championship. He managed to take 5 race wins (Oulton Park, Croft, Snetterton and a Brands Hatch finale double).

F​ollowing his return in WSR racing, he claimed four victories throughout the 2017 season and sat in the runner-up in the championship standings. In an intensely competitive 2018 season with 17 different winners spread across the season, he can out to win his third-championship.

A​ close title fight, combined with his strong performances in the 2019 season lead to a record-equalling fourth title, with a P4 finish at Brands Hatch GP.

T​urkington claimed a record-equalling fourth BTCC championship title, with three of them for WSR (Image Credit: https://twitter.com/BTCC/status/1183461284723003394)

T​urkington claimed a record-equalling fourth BTCC championship title, with three of them for WSR (Image Credit: https://twitter.com/BTCC/status/1183461284723003394)

Andrew Jordon, who ended up second in the drivers' championship (and left two points away from winning it), had this to say.

“I don’t have many words, to be honest. There really wasn’t anything more I could have done. It’s just the one that got away. I was obviously up against it going into the weekend, but I gave it my absolute all."

"The weather couldn’t have made things much more difficult for us in race one – under the safety car, it was like a switch in terms of grip – but we fought back in race two. I needed to make progress and I was all guns blazing; I was coming through, as simple as that!"

"We then came so close in race three – we certainly didn’t go down without a fight. We still come away from the season with six race wins, and I’m immensely proud of the job we’ve all done this year.”

You can watch all of the action from over the course of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season on ITV4, ITV Hub and at itv.com/btcc.

At the end of the 2019 season, BMW went to take the overall Manufacturers’ honours, whilst Halfords Yuasa Racing was rewarded with the Teams’ title.

30 races spread across ten race weekends of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship will kickstart in 2020, where Donnington Park will host its beginning on the 28th to 29th of March.