BMW honours 2009 champ

Colin Turkington has added a second BMW Sports Trophy title to the one he claimed in 2007.

Turkington's TeamWSR/Team RAC team-mate Stephen Jelley was eighth in the final Trophy standings, with Motorbase/Airwaves BMW's Robert Collard fourth and Jonathan Adam ninth - making it four BTCC drivers in the top ten out of almost 200 who were eligible.

"The BMW Sports Trophy is becoming more and more popular," said Theissen at the award ceremony in Munich's 'Kesselhaus' venue. "This year 198 drivers from 24 countries scored points towards the overall standings in 29 international racing series.

"As in 2007, Colin Turkington came through to win the trophy. His performance deserves the utmost respect: thanks to him a BMW driver has won the British Touring Car Championship for the first time since Joachim Winkelhock last achieved this feat 16 years ago.

"I would like to say a big thank you to all participants in the BMW Sports Trophy. Their performances in a diverse range of racing series around the world make them the best possible ambassadors to demonstrate the capability of our cars."

Turkington celebrated six race victories in the 2009 BTCC, completing the biggest success of his career to date in a remarkable finale at Brands Hatch.

The Northern Irishman, who scored 610 points in the BMW Sports Trophy, said: "Winning the BMW Sports Trophy is the perfect end to what has been a very successful season for me. BMW offers great support to us privateers, and I am pleased to be able to say thank you this year with the BTCC title."

'Privateer' drivers using BMW models in series all over the world are eligible for the BMW Sports Trophy which is calculated on the manufacturer's own scoring system.

Elsehwere, Turkington's weekend got even better: on Sunday night he was declared National Driver of the Year at the prestigious Autosport Awards ceremony in London - as voted for by the public. In front of a star-studded audience, he added: "I think that the last day of the season at Brands Hatch was the most nervous of my career and, having led it from the halfway point of the season, it was really up in the air with the battle with Fabrizio (Giovanardi).

"I was determined that I would be the winner and the team gave me such a fantastic car that it was for all of us. (WSR team boss) Dick Bennetts has been trying to win this title since 1996 and I've been with him since 2002 so it's a real team effort."