BTCC’S TV TIMESTelevision coverage of Rockingham’s BTCC action this Sunday is as follows: LIVE, ITV3, 16.00-17.30; LIVE, Setanta Sports 2, 09.55-18.00; highlights ITV1 (Monday), 01.30-02.00. ITV’s Men & Motors channel is also scheduled to broadcast repeats of ITV1’s highlights at 19.30 next Friday 27 April.All times are provisional.
NEAL TIPS JACKSONReigning champion Matt Neal has tipped BTCC newcomer Mat Jackson to figure in this year’s title race. Neal said: “Mat Jackson was the big surprise at Brands. I think he could be in the title fight, definitely. He’s staying out of trouble and looks like he can handle the car well… and it’s a quick car.”
Neal has also said a repeat of his Brands Hatch win at Rockingham will prove a more difficult task, claiming his second place in the current standings flatters his own true form.
TURKINGTON AMONG THE ELITE…BTCC title protagonist Colin Turkington is one of six drivers selected to form the MSA’s new ‘Race Elite’ academy, formed to help progress the careers of up-and-coming talent. Turkington, aged 25, said: “Some people will be surprised I went for it, but the academy offers me a chance to learn so many things I just don’t know. It’s a great chance and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”
… AND IS BEST MANTurkington spent the recent Easter weekend as best man at brother Gary’s wedding near the family’s hometown of Portadown in Northern Ireland. Asked if there was now pressure on him to tie the knot the Team RAC star replied:
“Everyone expects me to get married next but I think it will be my other brother, James, who does before me… and he’s still only 13.” The wedding celebrations at least put a smile on Turkington’s face after nobody bought him an Easter egg… his frustration was taken out with a three-hour run across the nearby Mourne mountain range with ten-month-old pet dog, a Jack Russell called Harry. “You’d think he’d be knackered, but you should see him go!” added Turkington.
TURNER UP IN THE AIRSEAT driver Darren Turner spent his 33rd birthday (Friday 13 April) in the skies above Oxford, flying a light ‘plane to keep his pilot’s licence upgraded. Morning fog, though, prevented him and pal (and former BTCC ace) Kelvin Burt from nipping to Wales for lunch… Between the BTCC’s Rockingham (22 April) and Thruxton (6 May) meetings, Turner will be at the Paul Ricard circuit in France for a 30-hour test with Aston Martin in preparation for June’s Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race in which he will drive for the famed UK marque alongside former BTCC aces Rickard Rydell and David Brabham.
TURNER FOCUSED ON IMPROVING STARTSTurner has said he needs to improve his race start technique if he’s to achieve stronger BTCC results.He said: “I keep losing places off the line and that means I get involved in all the scrapping which has a knock-on effect for the rest of the race or even the day. At Brands Hatch, I had as much contact in one day as the whole of last season. Hopefully, I’ll be able to practice a few starts in shakedown prior to Rockingham.”
POCKLINGTON HOPEFUL OF IMPROVEMENTSBTCC newcomer Jim Pocklington is confident of greater speed at Rockingham in his J Team with Tech Tuning BMW 320i. He told BTCC newsletter: “We’ll have upgraded brakes and, hopefully, will have cured the data-logging and wiring problems we had at Brands. When we tested at Rockingham last month the car had a terrible vibration through Turn 1 but we’ve got to bottom of that as well. I’m also getting used to rear-wheel-drive so there’s a bundle of time still to come from me too.” Pocklington has spent the last fortnight re-hanging an out-of-line door on a rare, early-Seventies Rolls Royce Phantom 6 at his classic car restoration bodyshop in Essex…
