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Colin Turkington's BTCC Championship Year: Part 1

By MJP Media | 18 October 2014

In this special feature, we look back at the first half of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship which was won by eBay Motors' Colin Turkington and look at the highs and lows of his title-winning season.

Turkington enjoys his 2nd win of the year at Thruxton

Brands Hatch (Indy)

With 7 former BTCC champions in the field, the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was always going to provide the close, exciting racing that has become synonymous with Britain's premier motor sport series. It was 2001 and 2010 champion Jason Plato who showed the early pace, topping the time sheets in the first free practice sessions of the year, however Colin Turkington was not far behind, posting the 2nd fastest time of the first session in his eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport.

Qualifying honours went to defending BTCC champion Andrew Jordan with Jason Plato 2nd and Colin Turkington 3rd ahead of Honda Yuasa Racing team-mates Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, themselves both former BTCC champions. Jordan continued his good form, winning the first two races whilst an 8th in race 1 and a 3rd in race 2 provided Turkington with valuable championship points.

Race 3 provided Turkington with his first victory of 2014 and with Andrew Jordan managing only 13th the championship standings after the first meeting of the year were extremely close, particularly with Matt Neal also getting 2 podium finishes. Leaving Brands Hatch Andrew Jordan was leading the championship on 47 points with Matt Neal 2nd on 45 and Colin Turkington 3rd on 44.

Donington Park

Although unable to top the time sheets in the free practice and qualifying sessions at Donington Park, Colin Turkington still managed to stay in contention posting the 3rd fastest time in the first practice session and qualifying his eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport on the 2nd row of the grid.

On race day it was clear that the MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save duo of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff had the upper hand, giving their team 1-2 victories in the first two races. Colin Turkington was able to only manage 4th in the first race and 6th in the second and with championship leader Andrew Jordan out-scoring him both times, Turkington needed a good result in the last race of the day.

It looked like race 3 would give Turkington the result he needed and his 2nd victory of the year however a bold move on him by 2012 BTCC champion Gordon Shedden at the last corner on the last lap saw the Scotsman muscle his way past to take the race victory and push Turkington down to 2nd at the chequered flag. Turkington had now dropped from 3rd to 4th in the championship standings behind Andrew Jordan, Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden.

Shedden denied Turkington a win at Donington Park

Thruxton

Thruxton in Hampshire is the fastest circuit on the BTCC calendar and this appeared to favour the Hondas with Andrew Jordan topping the time sheets in free practice with his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic then going on to qualify on pole position for the first race of the weekend. The Honda domination was confirmed with Honda Yuasa Racing team-mates Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal qualifying their Civic Tourers 2nd and 3rd. Colin Turkington qualified down in 13th place.

The Hondas continued to be the class of the field around the Thruxton circuit with Andrew Jordan leading Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden to a podium lockout for Honda in the first race of the day. Shedden went on to win the second race with Andrew Jordan 2nd. Rob Collard took the final podium place with a 3rd for eBay Motors.

The final race of the day saw Colin Turkington 5th on the grid however after a flying start he was rapidly up to 2nd and passed pole-sitter Fabrizio Giovanardi before the end of the first lap. Turkington held on to win the race with Airwaves Racing team-mates Mat Jackson and Fabrizio Giovanardi 2nd and 3rd. A poor showing by Jason Plato allowed Turkington to regain 3rd place in the championship on 123 points with of Andrew Jordan 1st on 141 and Gordon Shedden 2nd on 133.

Oulton Park

This was to be a turning point for Colin Turkington and his 2014 BTCC campaign. Arriving at the picturesque circuit lying 3rd in the championship, the 2009 champion topped the time sheet in the first free practice session with his eBay Motors team-mate Rob Collard 2nd. The pair were also in the top 3 in the 2nd practice session with Jason Plato topping the time sheets as the Hondas struggled.

Turkington's domination of the Cheshire circuit continued when he secured pole position for the first race of the day with Jason Plato not far behind, qualifying 2nd in his MG6. Turkington and the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport were clearly at one with the track as he took victory in the first race with team-mate Rob Collard securing 2nd ahead of Jason Plato. Turkington and Collard went on to another 1-2 finish in the second race however Collard was subsequently handed a 3.5 second penalty for overtaking under safety car conditions, dropping him to 3rd and promoting Rob Austin to 2nd.

Rain during the final race of the day made conditions difficult for all the drivers. The reverse grid put Chrome Edition Restart Racing's Aron Smith in pole position and the young driver held on to the lead to take the race win ahead of former BTCC champions Gordon Shedden and Jason Plato. Plato was later given a 1.5 second penalty for an incident involving Colin Turkington, depriving Plato of his 3rd place and promoting Turkington to 3rd instead. Turkington was now leading the Drivers' Championship on 183 points with Shedden 2nd, Andrew Jordan 3rd and Jason Plato 4th.

Two wins at Croft gave Turkington the lead in the championship

Croft

Following on from his success at Oulton Park, Colin Turkington continued to show his superiority at Croft where he was quickest in the first free practice session. Sam Tordoff went quickest in the second session however Turkington then put his eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport on pole for the first race of the weekend, being joined on the front row of the grid by the ever-present Jason Plato.

Following a lights-to-flag victory in the first race, Turkington went on to win the second race in similar manner with Gordon Shedden taking 2nd place in both races. This was a fantastic result for Turkington as he was carrying the maximum success ballast in both races.

The reverse grid for the final race of the day saw Turkington start from 9th on the grid and with the likes of Gordon Shedden, Andrew Jordan and Rob Collard starting ahead of him, race three was always going to be a challenge. In the end it was a rare mechanical failure on Turkington's BMW that put him out of the race with a clutch problem, allowing Jordan to take the win with Collard 2nd and Shedden 3rd. Heading into the summer break, Turkington was still at the top of the championship table on 228 points with Shedden 2nd on 221, Andrew Jordan 3rd on 200 and Jason Plato 4th on 179.

Continued in Part 2.

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media