Erkut Kizilirmak has continued his solid run of form in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after once again going close to a maiden top ten finish during the latest rounds of the season at
Snetterton.
The Arkas Racing man finished eleventh – just one place shy of the points – in two of the three races and only missed out on a possible top ten in the other following an incident involving the
BMW of Martyn Bell.
Lining up 17th on the grid for the first race after an engine problem in qualifying, the 37-year-old produced a solid drive in the opening race to finish in twelfth place although he was moved up a spot when race winner
Colin Turkington was excluded.
Moving into tenth at the start of race two after Mike Jordan failed to get away off the line, Erkut ran in tenth before a trip off the track at Riches saw him slip down the order. While trying to come back through the pack, a coming together with Bell on the run from Riches to Sear saw the Astra disappear into the crops on the side of the circuit and put Erkut out of the race.
From 16th place for race three, the Turkish champion enjoyed a three-car battle with Tom Ferrier and Jason Hughes throughout the race and got the edge on his rivals to take eleventh for the second time in the weekend.
“It's been an enjoyable weekend, there has been some good racing and we had great pace – the car was fantastic,” he said. “We had a really good chance to finish in the top ten for the first time but just missed out, it's a shame but we have shown we have the speed to run comfortably in those positions.
“Through the speed traps we were quicker than drivers like
Jason Plato and
Matt Neal so that is a very big boost and it shows we're making progress all of the time. We're closer than ever to the top 10, at
Brands Hatch maybe we can score our first ever points in the main championship, I really do think we can.”
