BTCC

Round 1

All the action from the first three races of the 2008 British Touring Car Championship, plus SEAT star Darren Turner gives his views.

"You might think I’d be happy with two good points finishes after today’s opening races in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship, but disappointment and frustration are my over-riding feelings at the moment.

We arrived at Brands Hatch this weekend with a brand new diesel-engined SEAT car. We’d only had a day and a half’s testing so we were a bit on the back foot to be honest. We know the car has loads of potential, but we’re not as up to speed as we’d like in terms of knowing how to unlock it.

My team mate Jason Plato and I both did pretty well in practice and we had the front row pretty well locked out in qualifying until two red flag stoppages interrupted my fastest laps. In the end we had to settle for 4th and 6th on the grid.

It was all going swimmingly until I made a small mistake. It was slippery on the track after the mid-race rain, and the last thing you ever want to do is hit your team mate, but I got a bit tangled up with Jason. Fortunately he held it and went on to finish on the podium, with me just behind in 4th.

Race two was pretty good, finishing 5th with fastest lap of the race under my belt. Apparently it was only 0.3 seconds off a new circuit track record.

Our aim this weekend was to bag some points and get reasonable finishes so I was annoyed to be fired off by Gordon Shedden on my opening lap of race three. We all make mistakes, and there’s been plenty of times when he’s cost places but this time he cost us a race result. Just after that happened Tom Onslow-Cole had a big one and I was praying for a red flag. The team were saying “Don’t get out of car, stay in,” but unfortunately it didn’t go our way today. Game over."

Darren Turner

For more breaking car news and reviews, subscribe to Auto Express magazine.
We'll give you 6 issues for £1 and a free gift!