The “totally alien” challenge Turkington is taking on

Having spent the best part of two decades relying solely on his own judgement behind the wheel, Colin Turkington is preparing to place his trust in someone else this weekend.

The four-time British Touring Car Championship winner is set to make his rally debut on Saturday’s Benone Stages, swapping the familiarity of circuit racing for the unpredictable demands of closed-road competition.

Alongside him will be one of the sport's most respected navigators in County Donegal’s Rory Kennedy, whose pacenotes will guide the 44-year-old through every mile of the event.

It marks a significant step into the unknown for the Northern Irishman. While Turkington has built a career on reading a circuit, rallying requires drivers to commit to corners they often cannot see, relying entirely on the instructions delivered from the co-driver’s seat.

Turkington and Kennedy only met in person for the first time last month when they sampled the BMW E30 they will campaign on the Benone Stages, with the pair reunited on Friday at Shackleton for a full shakedown ahead of the event.

The outing has been made possible by Antrim businessman Ernie Graham, owner of the historic-specification BMW and Turkington's British GT team-mate for 2026.

Photo by: Rory Kennedy

Having already stepped outside his own comfort zone to join Turkington in circuit racing this season, Graham was keen to return the favour by introducing the Portadown native to the world of rallying.

“This is his world – historic rallying – and he has so many connections on this side,” said Turkington. “He has jumped well outside his comfort zone to come circuit racing with me, so he was quite keen that I do something similar. For me, that is about experiencing rallying and something totally new as a driver.

“Rory is a huge name in rallying over here. I remember as a child watching him on television co-driving Bertie Fisher and, more recently, working alongside Kris Meeke. I couldn't be in safer hands.”

For a driver accustomed to learning every inch of a circuit over multiple laps, rallying presents a very different challenge. Saturday’s stages around Benone are narrow, technical and unfamiliar, with competitors unable to drive them beforehand, making onboard footage and pacenotes invaluable.

“We didn’t use pacenotes when I drove the car initially, so that is something we will have to practice,” Turkington explained. “Your vision is so limited compared to a racing car because you generally can't see where the corners go. Getting my head around that is going to be one of the big challenges.

“The idea that you are not driving based on what you can see, but on what you hear from your co-driver, is totally alien and that's going to be the biggest adjustment. If you are driving towards a hedge and being told, ‘Flat right’, you simply have to trust your co-driver because you still can't see where the road is going. That level of trust is something that may take a little time to get used to.”