A storming first British Touring Car Championship win of the season for Colin Turkington propelled BMW to the head of the series’ Manufacturers’ standings on a baking-hot day at Snetterton.
A further podium finish for the Team BMW driver elevated the Northern Irishman to third place in the Drivers’ points table, while team-mates Stephen Jelley and Tom Oliphant also banked strong finishes to cement their positions in the standings.
With track temperatures soaring as high as 43 degrees in Norfolk, Colin put on a display of force in the day’s opening race; taking full advantage of pole position and a WSR-run BMW 330i M Sport to take his 57th BTCC win.
With the maximum 75kg weight aboard for Race Two, his second-place result was equally impressive.
Seventh in the reversed-grid finale ensured he ended the weekend as the second-highest points scorer and moved up four spots in the Drivers’ standings.
Fresh from his best-ever Snetterton qualifying performance, team-mate Stephen Jelley banked a big score of his own and climbed to seventh in the standings.
The Leicester racer, who bagged pole position on Race Three’s partially-reversed grid, had finished a season’s-best fourth in Race One and added seventh and fifth spots in the later races.
Tom Oliphant was on course for a podium finish in Race Three, having started second, until he was spun by another car at one-quarter distance.
The Leamington Spa-based racer showed great determination all day, scoring a best result of sixth in Race Two to add to eighth in the opener.
After being turned around in the finale, Tom dropped to 22nd, but battled back to 16th; missing a third points finish by under a second. He’s now 12th in the standings.
Team BMW were the weekend’s top points scorers, winning the Teams’ Trophy and climbing to within three points of the series lead.
BMW’s advantage at the head of the Manufacturers’ standings is now 10 points as they target a record-breaking sixth straight title.
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