BTCC star Turkington eyes further club race outings
MAZDA MX-5 SUPERCUP
Four-time British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington made a guest appearance in the Mazda MX-5 Supercup at Silverstone last weekend, and has further club-level outings planned in 2024.
The 67-time BTCC racer winner, who turns 42 today (Thursday), was competing in a Paul Sheard-prepared car and managed to come away with a best result of 12th in the third and final race.
Turkington, who is expected to race in the BTCC this season with Team BMW once again, told Autosport he was there purely for fun, having been impressed when he saw the championship previously: “We came to watch the Mini Se7ens and Miglias here last year, and we saw these out too, and I just thought, ‘That looks like fun’.
“It’s been five months since my last race at Brands Hatch and, with touring cars, there isn’t that much seat time before the season starts so, as this is just down the road, I thought why not give it a go and dust a few cobwebs off.
“I love my motorsport but obviously,
I’m limited as to what else I have time to do, so this was the perfect opportunity to just turn up and have a bit of fun.”
Turkington plans to race again in the Mazda category as well as in other series this season alongside his BTCC commitments, which are due to begin on 27-28 April at Donington Park. Before that, though, Turkington is set to race at this weekend’s Classic Sports Car
Club meeting, also at Donington.
“I’m going to do the Snetterton [Mazda] round as well [in April] and this weekend, I’ll be out at Donington, partnering Mark Smith in the E36 BMW,” added Turkington.
“I’ve raced with Mark and Amspeed for quite a long time now, last time out at Spa being undoubtedly one of my personal highlights of the year. There’s also a plan to race a Mini Se7en, again at Donington, in a couple of weeks’ time.
“The BTCC is my job, and the weekends can be pretty stressful, so we just thought that it would be nice if we could do some racing in a more relaxed environment, where the only thing that matters is that I’m smiling when I get home.”