Flying Turk goes global

It’s not every day a client takes Serious PR global.  There have been one or two in recent months and we’re proud of that. This week we were delighted to hear of another client literally going world-wide with news that Portadown’s Colin Turkington is to compete in this year’s World Touring Car Championships. It meant a hectic few days for our team  dealing with local, national and international press enquiries, prepping for interviews and getting the word out.  By Friday evening more than 3.5million people had the opportunity to hear or see the news! The WTCC is a phenomenal event, with more than 350m TV viewers across the world. Turkington plans to join the grid on 4 July for the WTCC round in Portimao, Portugal, followed by Brands Hatch on 18 July and Brno in the Czech Republic on 1 August He said he was excited about the possibility of testing himself against some of the best drivers in the world. “I feel this is a natural progression for me after last year’s championship,” said the current BTCC and Independents’ champion. “We were bitterly disappointed when – due to insufficient sponsorship – we were unable to compete in either the BTCC or WTCC full programmes. This opportunity – initially for three rounds – has been made possible through the support of a group of private sponsors.  We are really grateful to them and hopefully, with further support from others, we may be able to make additional rounds towards the end of the season.” Turkington will be re-united with West Surrey Racing (WSR) for the WTCC programme. “Obviously we know the WSR guys very well. They’re a top team and have been a big part of my success in recent years,” said Colin. “I’m also indebted to Team Principal, Dick Bennetts with whom we have been working very closely over the past few months to make this deal a reality.” Turkington will be driving the BMW 320si in which he won the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship. “This is part of our plan to target a full programme in 2011.  We will be working hard over the coming months to demonstrate the WTCC is a fantastic event with which to be associated as a sponsor and will be speaking with a number of organisations in the hope they will come on board for next year.” Turkington admits to being touched by the wave of support from the racing fraternity since the beginning of this season. “We have received hundreds of email messages of support from our fantastic fan base.   It’s going to be great to get back behind the wheel again. I can’t wait.” WSR Team Principal, Dick Bennetts, commented: “We are all really looking forward to seeing how Colin and the team go in the WTCC. The guys have nearly finished rebuilding his BMW and we are just waiting on a fresh engine and some parts from BMW Motorsport, before doing some testing prior to our first race in Portimao on 4 July.” WSR will be competing as Independents and definitely don’t underestimate the calibre of the competitors. “It will be tough going to circuits like Portimao and Brno, where we’ve never raced before; although we’re sure there will be very good support for Colin and the team at Brands Hatch on 18 July.” “The team had been looking at both the BTCC and the WTCC, however Colin felt that he’d like a new challenge, after being the BTCC Champion last year and the BTCC Independents Champion for the last three years.” Next stop for Serious is Brands Hatch on 18 July!