Flash Engineering

Flash Engineering recently announced Colin Turkington as the new star driver of the team. But who is this 28-year-old from Northern Ireland? Join us as we go through his career, from gokart at Northern Ireland to the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Turkington started his career with gokart in 1993 before moving on to car racing five years later in the Northern Irish Metro championship where he claimed the title in 1998.

He moved to the BTCC support class Ford Fiesta Zetech the year after. Turkington drove there for three seasons, with hard resistance from a number of upcoming BTCC drivers, and secured the title in 2001.

Thanks to the Ford Fiesta title, Turkington was able, then only 19-years-old, to enter the British Touring Car Championship for the first time ever. Turkington raced for the team Atomic Kitten, a team with the all-girl pop band Atomic Kittens as the main sponsors.

Turkington stepped up on the podium for the first time after half the season in 2002, something that helped him securing a continued drive for West Surrey Racing in 2003 when they got official factory status from MG. 2003 became the year when Turkington secured his first ever BTCC victory, as shown in this movie:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM5dk2prDN0[/youtube]

Turkington continue for WSR and MG in 2004. He scored one win and five podiums and finished sixth in the championship, right ahead of Rob Huff who today takes part in the WTCC for Chevrolet.

The factory team of Vauxhall signed Turkington for 2005 where he got to drive the new Vauxhall Astra. The Northern Irishman drove alongside experienced touring car racer Yvan Muller and finished sixth in the championship.

Turkington was back with West Surrey Racing for 2006 and for the first time mixed it up in the title battle. Thanks to an outstanding consistency Turkington was able to secure third in the championship, just one point from second, after two victories and 14 podium places.

And Turkington was not shy to mix it in to the hard fights, as shown in this video clip where he is fighting hard with Fabrizio Giovanardi during the final laps at Donington Park.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V09u0IFNFos[/youtube]

BTCC 2007 was the first season for Turkington and West Surrey Racing with BMW, the same model that he is going to drive for Flash Engineering in the STCC 2011. Immediately the Northern Irishman showed his potential in the BMW and claimed pole position and two podium finishes in the first race of the year. He continued the season in a strong fashion and secured his first ever independents’ title in the BTCC.

Turkington continued with the BMW the year after, securing his second consecutive independents’ title after, among other results, claiming two victories.

2009 became the breakthrough year for Turkington. The Northern Irishman got in to the title fight from the first race and claimed the championship lead at mid-point of the championship after a double victory at Croft. Despite hard resistance from factory efforts of Chevrolet and Vauxhall, Turkington managed as the second driver ever to secure both the overall and independents’ title of the BTCC.

Turkington claimed six victories in 2009, of which two double victories, three fastest laps, three pole position and no less than 14 podium finishes.

The journey towards the title was none other than easy, he was one of three drivers able to secure the title in the final race of the year. He had to fight hard and ranks the final race of the Brands Hatch finale as his best race of his life. Watch the very hard fight of the finale here, with overtaking maneuvers, team tactics, crashes and all kinds of drama:

Part 1:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOaJPS1yOuc[/youtube]

Part 2:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6z0zttU1vk[/youtube]

Part 3:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qLTDB_HUCY[/youtube]

After his championship season in the BTCC, Turkington moved to the WTCC in 2010. Unfortunately the privately owned team West Surrey Racing was not able to secure funding for the entire season, but Turkington made a strong impression nonetheless.

Despite the fact that Turkington only took part in five race weekends, he managed to secure one victory, four podium finishes and ended up in 10th position of 22 drivers.

For 2011 Turkington is getting in to the Scandinavian battle for the STCC title alongside team mate Jan ”Flash” Nilsson and Flash Engineering.
”After eight seasons in the BTCC, I feel ready and motivated for entering STCC with Flash Engineering. I think we can score some strong results this year,” said Turkington.

Pictures: Flash Engineering, PSP Images, Kelvin Fagan.