Dick Bennetts: There’s definitely a sense of unfinished business

West Surrey Racing Team Principal Dick Bennetts has shared his delight at securing the services of Colin Turkington for the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Turkington returns to the reigning teams’ champions for the first time since departing after clinching his second title in 2014, and will once again pilot the BMW 1-Series that took him to that crown again this forthcoming campaign.

Having worked alongside the double champion for the majority of his career, Bennetts has built a strong relationship with the Northern Irishman. Yet to defend a title together, Bennetts believes Turkington’s return to WSR has a sense of unfinished business surrounding it.

“It’s great have Colin back for 2017,” said the Kiwi. “His performances with various WSR BMWs have been extremely strong and he’s been a key part of our most successful seasons in the BTCC in 2009 and 2014.

“There’s definitely a sense of unfinished business as, despite our intentions, commercial reasons meant we weren’t able to stay together to defend our championships. We now head into 2017 with a very strong driver line-up, and we’re aiming for more titles.”

The reigning teams’ champions are yet to confirm the identity of their third driver although an announcement is expected in due course.

See how the grid currently stands with just a handful of driver confirmations left to be made before the Season Launch at Donington Park on March 16.