Team BMW's Colin Turkington confirms 20th season in British Touring Car Championship

The Portadown man and team-mate Adam Morgan will drive the new 330e M-Sport WSR-run car, which features a new engine and chassis and aerodynamic upgrades.

After unveiling the team’s new livery for the season ahead, Turkington – who will commence pre-season testing on Wednesday at Snetterton – said: “I’m extremely pleased to be a part of Team BMW for the 2024 season and to race the BMW 330e M Sport.

“This will be my 20th BTCC campaign and I couldn't be happier with the team I'll have around me.

“There has been some serious work going on over the winter in WSR to enhance the overall performance of our BMW and as always, I'm focused on being the best, most competitive version of myself that I can be.

“You never quite know what the pecking order will be until that first qualifying session of the year, but I'm hopeful we can put ourselves right in the hunt for podiums and wins from the season-opener at Donington,” he added.

“It's exciting for everyone involved to get the cars out on track tomorrow and kick off the pre-season programme planned for the next four weeks. Let's just hope the UK weather is kind to us.”

The BTCC rules have been revamped this year, including a shake-up in Saturday qualifying – when the fastest six drivers will go through to a ten-minute ‘Quick Six’ qualifying shootout – and an increase in hybrid boost.

The Hybrid Energy Management System (HEM) provides drivers with the ability to deploy the hybrid-turbo for a dedicated amount of time per lap in qualifying and for a number of laps in the races – depending on their championship position (for qualifying) and their race finishing position on race day.

In a change this season, hybrid boost will have double the amount of power output compared to last year.

Turkington said: “I think it’s the biggest shake up in many years. We’ve got the bigger steps of (hybrid) deployment, bigger steps of boost, so a bigger discrepancy between those the front and the back.

“I think the racing will be going back to that way we were previously used to.

“I think that the idea behind hybrid, is to use it to go forward, not just to defend or go backwards – it’s about trying to go forward and race to the front,” he added.

“I had a brief look into it last year at the mid-season test at Snetterton, there were a few of us that got to try out the theory, and for sure you can feel a big increase in deployment from what we’ve been using.

“There’s also the qualifying shake-up, I'm sure we’re all still trying to get our heads around it. It could either go for you or go against you, but I think it’s going to be a lot more exciting on a Saturday for fans.

“There'll be lots to learn about how best to maximise every session on a Saturday and that creates opportunity. Change is good.”