Colin Turkington clocks up 50th British Touring Car Championship win to extend lead

The triple BTCC champion and current standings leader now adds a half century of wins to his ever growing list of accolades, as the Team BMW superstar commanded this latest contest with consummate ease.

“I didn’t realise this was where the stats were,” said Turkington.

“For me that was a special win given how I felt with the car. I was completely in the zone. Every lap was as good as I could make it.

“It’s very rare that you finish a race and feel like that. There’s very few that you feel like you’re in a different place. I’m the frontman but the BMW and WSR guys are the ones doing all the work, it’s for them.

“There’s only a few occasions you drive the car throughout the season and it’s perfect and you get that connection. We’re just approaching half-way so it’s still early days.

“Andy (Jordan) has had a great start to the season and it’s great we’ve got three quick BMWs. The competition within pushes me on.”

Team BMW driver Turkington, who is aiming for his fourth BTCC title, was unchallenged in the first two races as he took his third and fourth wins of the season.

A strong result in the reverse-grid race three means the 36-year-old holds a strong advantage in the standings over team-mate Andrew Jordan heading into the mid-point of the season.

It was a a tough weekend for Carrick’s Chris Smiley, who finished just outside the points with 16th in race one, before being taken out in a fist-lap accident in the following race.

Turkington finished ninth in race three to lead the standings by 34 points.

There was also success for Dan Harper in the Porsche Carrera Cup and Jack Young in the Renault Clio Cup. Hillsborough teenager Harper extended his championship lead to 20 points with a win in race one at the Cheshire circuit, finishing fourth in the reverse-grid race two. Belfast’s Jack Young won race one in the Clio Cup but crashed out on the first lap of the second race.