The new season comes with a new car and a new teammate for Team RAC’s Colin Turkington. The 24-year-old becomes the senior driver at West Surrey Racing, as he’s joined by Tom Onslow-Cole, aged just 19, for the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

He’s driven an MG ZS in the BTCC in four of the past five seasons, with a brief interlude in a Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch in 2005. But in for 2007, Turkington takes to the wheel of a BMW 320si E90.

“It’s a big change for Team RAC this year”, said Turkington. “We’re no longer with the good old MG. We’ve got two brand new BMW E90 3 Series. They’re not quite here today, but we hope to be out testing next week.”

“A go-kart was the last rear-wheel drive thing I drove, but the BMW is a very good car. We’ve had limited testing so far, but I’ve found the transition from the MG to the BMW relatively easy and it’s a very good car to drive.”

A go-kart was the last rear-wheel drive thing I drove, but the BMW is a very good car. We’ve had limited testing so far, but I’ve found the transition from the MG to the BMW relatively easy and it’s a very good car to drive.

Team RAC has not yet had the opportunity to get on the track with its own cars, just a loan vehicle for a number of test sessions. At Rockingham, both divers shared the BMW for the afternoon’s test session, but there will definitely be two cars in time for the opening races at Brands Hatch.

Turkington added, “We’ll have a lot of testing done by Brands Hatch. It’s two new cars and we’ve got a lot of work to do, both for the team and for the drivers, but the car’s had a very good test in the World Touring Car Championship and we’re very confident of our chances this year.”

The BMW 320si E90 is being used by the German manufacturer in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2007, and last weekend saw the first races of the year, at Curitiba in Brazil. The result was a pair of podium lock-outs for BMW.

“It was very encouraging”, said Turkington. “I was a happy man watching the race on Sunday and the domination of the BMs.”

“I’d like to think we’ll be at the front. Everybody’s saying they’ll win and everybody thinks they can win, but going on he past history of the BMW, I think we should be at the sharp end.”