Four-time British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington finished third in the GT4 Pro-Am class at the British GT Silverstone 500 season opener.

Turkington, who is competing with WSR FlexiFly this season alongside experienced British European Historic Rally driver Ernie Graham in a BMW M4 GT4, praised the result as a ‘fantastic start’ after his and the team’s first race in the championship.

This season, Turkington has made the transition from short, sprint races to longer endurance competition, adding a new challenge to his already decorated career.

Despite qualifying towards the rear of the field, the pair made up ground during the race and made strong progress through the GT4 field, with Turkington leading the charge.

Although the pair faced the challenge of safety cars, full course yellows and incidents throughout, the WSR FlexiFly team stayed out of trouble to pick up a debut podium.

Speaking after the race with GT REPORT and BMM, he said: “It was pretty tough. I enjoyed it. There were a lot of safety cars, full course yellows, so the only disappointment is we didn’t get longer to race at the end but to be on the podium in the first race, it’s what we were ambitiously aiming for so to get a podium is a fantastic start.”

Furthermore, the three-hour Silverstone 500 contest is often considered as one of the toughest challenges of the season. The longer stints are something the BTCC veteran isn’t familiar with, and he got his first real taste of that on Sunday in what will likely be one of his biggest challenges this year. 

Expanding on the challenge of endurance racing, Turkington added:

“I enjoy just being in the car and the longer stints where you can really get into the race. Sometimes it’s a bit lonely and you’re not quite sure who you’re racing, but it’s just good to get to the finish and getting the podium is really nice.” 

Looking ahead, the next round of the British GT Championship is at Oulton Park on 23–25 May, where the WSR FlexiFly team will be looking to build on a positive opening outing in the series.