West Surrey Racing confirm Colin Turkington

West Surrey Racing are coming off the back of one of their best seasons to date having won both the manufacturers' and teams' championships in 2016. It was announced late last year that Sam Tordoff, who piloted one of the team's BMW 125i Msports to second in the championship last year, would not be returning to the team. It was announced that Andrew Jordan would effectively be replacing him and the second WSR driver has been announced as Colin Turkington today.

Turkington last drove for the team back in 2014 when he won his second drivers' championship whilst also claiming the independents' title. Turkington raced for the team for the majority of his BTCC career, first joining the team back in 2003. In that time he has claimed thirty race wins and two overall titles. The Northern Irishman took a brief break away from the team in 2005 to race a Triple Eight Vauxhall Astra but returned to the team in 2006 and stayed with them until the end of 2009. A lack of sponsorhip for the following season saw him have stints in the World Touring Car Championship and Swedish Touring Car Championship. He later returned to WSR in 2013 and impressed immediately, winning five times and finishing fifth in his first season with NGTC machinery.

Turkington rejoins the team he won the 2009 and 2014 titles with.

After winning the championship in 2014, Turkington spent two seasons with Team BMR, driving a Volkswagen CC and a Subaru Levorg, taking four wins in 2015 and five in 2016. With the WSR BMW getting stronger and quicker than ever coupled with a high-class teammate in Andrew Jordan, Turkington is already expected to be a championship contender and this is hardly surprising; a proven car with which Turkington has already won in and a very strong team behind him, the Northern Irishman is one to watch in 2017.

Image: West Surrey Racing Twitter (@Official_WSR)

Words: Jordan Hines (@JordanHines33)

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