TURKINGTON "PSYCHED UP" AHEAD OF DONINGTON BTCC
CHALLENGE
Matt Neal's lead in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship
is down to him "riding his luck" and he will slip
up, according to closest points rival Colin Turkington ahead
of their duel at East Midlands race circuit Donington Park
this coming Sunday (30 July).
Reigning champion Neal's season got off to a bad start with
a big crash in his Team Halfords Honda at Brands Hatch, but
since then he's got away with several incidents on his way
to building up a comfortable 37 point lead over Team RAC MG
driver Turkington as the season prepares to enter its second
half.
Northern Irishman Turkington, who at 24 could this year become
the youngest ever BTCC champion, said: "In the latest
round at Croft, Matt got involved in a big impact with my
team-mate Robert Collard - he was off the track for a moment
and it could have ended in disaster.
"I was also following him on another part of the track
and he hit the tyre marker on the inside of the corner - often
that can wreck your suspension, but he got away with just
a damaged front wing.
"I'm not whinging, because overall he's driven very
well and gone out and won races. But he has been riding his
luck a bit and if he keeps getting involved in those sorts
of dramas it will go wrong for him. I just need to make sure
that when it does I'm in a position to capitalise."
At Donington, Turkington will be hoping to achieve his first
pole position of 2006 - last year he was untouchable in qualifying,
with three poles including one at Donington, but this season
he's yet to start a race from the front. In fact, at Croft
11 days ago, he suffered his worst qualifying performance
of the season so far with only the seventh fastest time.
And he added: "The heat at Croft seemed to affect our
car a little bit more than we'd expected for some reason -
we were only a couple of tenths off pole but it's so competitive
that I was back on the fourth row and from there it's never
easy.
"The forecast is for similar weather at Donington so
we need to be on top of things quicker so we don't put ourselves
in a similar situation. The position I'm in, fighting for
the championship, I need to maximise everything."
To win the BTCC would be a lifetime dream come true for Turkington.
He had a chance to become Neal's team-mate in 2006 after testing
the Team Halfords Honda, but opted to rejoin Dick Bennetts'
WSR organisation that runs the Team RAC MG programme. And
one senses that he would get greater satisfaction lifting
the Champion's trophy for WSR, having raced its cars since
making his BTCC debut back in 2002.
He said: "If I don't win then coming second, third or
fourth would be a big disappointment as my whole life has
been dedicated to winning the BTCC. And that goes for all
the guys at the workshop.
"Each race meeting, when you go out in the car, things
just get that little bit more intense. There's no messing
about when you go out onto the track. There's so much at stake
and being in a good position in the championship makes you
a lot hungrier and determined.
"I really need a win at Donington and start regularly
finishing in front of Matt every time. He can put the pressure
on, but I'm not going to lie down easily. I'm going to put
up a fight. I'm pretty psyched up right now."
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