Turkington unconcerned by success ballast threat

Carrying 39 kilograms of extra weight, the reigning champion led an all-Team BMR top three in qualifying, edging out teammates Aron Smith and Jason Plato – who was carrying 66kg – by less than a tenth of a second.

Winning the first race from pole would mean Turkington would be forced to carry the maximum 75kg in the second race, but the Ulsterman said he wasn’t troubled by such a prospect.

“I’ve got 39kgs in the car already, so adding more on top of that isn’t something I’d be too concerned about,” Turkington told Motorsport.com.

“We’ll take it one race at a time, maximise what we’ve got.”

Asked if the tight margins in qualifying came as a surprise, Turkington said: “Not really, the competition has been so fierce in terms of car performance.

“It’s been that way all season – that’s the beauty of this championship.

Turkington also said it was reassuring to have his teammates immediately behind him on the starting grid – but acknowledged that this wouldn’t make winning any easier.

“It’s nice to be able to hunt as a pack – you can trust your teammates a little more,” he said.

“But it’s not going to be easy. We all have the same machinery so there should be an equal chance of winning."