2010 Turkish Grand Prix

Having reached the midpoint of the season, championship leader Janne Tanskanen was starting to build a gap over his rivals, while 3rd placed Mark Wicks had his sights set on overtaking Lee Morris for 2nd overall. The venue for this round was the exciting Istanbul Park circuit, which provided several challenges for the Superleague drivers, including the famous quadruple apex Turn 8.

Qualifying saw a somewhat reduced field take to the track for the customary 12 laps. The Woods Racing cars once more had a strong showing, this time with Mark Wicks beating his teammate Kieran Ryan to a front row spot. However, once more Tanskanen proved unstoppable in qualifying trim and he grabbed pole by almost 8 tenths of a second.

There were some first lap incidents as Wayne Mullins and Sam Millar tangled at Turn 1, causing the Draig Racing driver to limp back to the pits with a puncture and causing him to drop to last. Meanwhile at the front Tanskanen led into Turn 1 ahead of Ryan. Wicks has another disappointing start and dropped to 4th behind Tommi Koivunen before retaking 3rd with a brave move through Turn 8.

During the first stint Wicks was showing a strong recovery and by Lap 8 he had caught and passed his teammate and set about trying to reel in the leading Nordsjoen. After a spin, Ryan decided to switch to a 3 stop strategy which effectively left him battling for the rest of the race to keep 3rd. Further back there were several battles among the lower teams with Christoph Lichtenstein, Mark Stanton and Gavin Thomas proving to be the big winners in those fights.

The battle for the race win proved to be surprisingly close as Wicks and Tanskanen were separated by only a couple of seconds as they emerged from the pits after their final stops. Both drivers proved to be equally matched here and despite closing right up to the rear wing of Tanskanen's car, Wicks was unable to find a way past the Finn and ultimately had to settle for 2nd. Ryan managed to hang on the 3rd place at the end.

Preceded by: 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix

2010 Turkish Grand Prix 2010

Succeeded by: 2010 Canadian Grand Prix