Darren Turner

Darren Turner
Darren Turner
Nationality	British
Born	(1974-04-13) 13 April 1974 Camberley, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	2003 –
Teams	Prodrive Racing, Aston Martin Racing
Best finish	5th (2007)
Class wins	2 (2007, 2008)
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2012
Current team	Aston Martin Racing
Car no.	97
Starts	32
Wins	6
Poles	9
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	3rd in 2013
Championship titles
2007, 2008 1993	24 Hours of Le Mans – GT1 FFirst Great Britain W. Series
Awards
1996	McLaren Autosport Award

Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British professional racing driver currently racing for Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

He was McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year in 1996. He is a former test driver for the McLaren Formula One team, but has raced primarily in touring cars and sportscars since 2000. He spent 2 years in the DTM for Keke Rosberg's Mercedes-Benz-powered team, also winning several ASCAR races. In 2006 he raced sportscars for Aston Martin, but also competed five rounds of the British Touring Car Championship for SEAT, sharing their 2nd car with James Thompson. In his first drive for the team he finished 3rd.

He finished second in the first two races at Knockhill, but lost both results for technical infringements. While running second to team-mate Jason Plato under a safety car in race one, he did not stay close to Plato's car, thus preventing Plato's championship rivals from being close to him. This incurred a 20-second time penalty, dropping him to 10th, however the team then removed the 'Success Ballast' he had earned for second place. As this applies to the order cars cross the line, not the final amended race result (drivers who were elevated by his penalty did not gain extra success ballast), this is a disqualification offence. He remained with the team for 2007, now full-time team-mate to Plato. Luck was again against him at Rockingham – after qualifying on pole the car had an electrical failure before race one. His first win came in race 11 at Croft , with two more at Knockhill.

Turner driving for SEAT at the Oulton Park round of the 2007 British Touring Car Championship.

As well as driving for SEAT in the BTCC, Darren also competed in the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours, competing in the GT1 class driving for Prodrive Aston Martin Racing alongside David Brabham and Rickard Rydell. After a tense fight against the Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R of Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows, the Aston prevailed to win a Le Mans class race for the first time since the return of Aston Martin to endurance sportscar racing.

He opened his 2008 racing season by competing in the Rolex 24 finishing 4th in class and overall sharing a Krohn Racing Pontiac-Riley with Niclas Jonsson and Ricardo Zonta. At the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans Turner won the GT1 class (13th overall) driving an Aston Martin DBR9 shared with David Brabham and Antonio García.

Turner also participated in the Gold Coast 600 race as part of the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship. He entered the race as a replacement driver to Dan Wheldon, who was scheduled to drive in the race but was killed in a 15-car crash at the IndyCar World Championship race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, less than a week before the race.

In 2012, Turner competed in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season with Aston Martin Racing in the GTE-Pro class Aston Martin Vantage.

In the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, Turner and the Aston Martin Racing finished third place in the GTE-Pro class along with his co-drivers the German Stefan Mücke and the Mexican Adrián Fernández, their Aston Martin Vantage 4.5 L-V8 covered a total of 332 laps (2,811.65 miles), in the Circuit de la Sarthe without failure or serious mechanical problems. Also the team achieved the fastest lap of the category with 3 minutes and 54.928 seconds.^[1][2]

For 2013 Turner continues with Aston Martin Racing^[3] and will be entering the FIA World Endurance Championship in an Aston Martin Aston Martin Vantage GTE alongside Stefan Mücke and will be joined by Peter Kox for the 6 Hours of Austin and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Racing record

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2003	Veloqx Prodrive Racing	Anthony Davidson Kelvin Burt	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	GTS	176	DNF	DNF
2004	Prodrive Racing	Colin McRae Rickard Rydell	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	GTS	329	9th	3rd
2005	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Stéphane Sarrazin	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	333	9th	3rd
2006	Aston Martin Racing	Tomáš Enge Andrea Piccini	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	350	6th	2nd
2007	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Rickard Rydell	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	343	5th	1st
2008	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Antonio García	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	344	13th	1st
2009	Aston Martin Racing	Anthony Davidson Jos Verstappen	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	LMP1	342	13th	11th
2010	Aston Martin Racing	Juan Barazi Sam Hancock	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	LMP1	368	DNF	DNF
2011	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Christian Klien	Aston Martin AMR-One	LMP1	4	DNF	DNF
2012	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Adrián Fernández	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	GTE Pro	332	19th	3rd
2013	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Peter Dumbreck	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	GTE Pro	314	17th	3rd
2014	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Bruno Senna	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	GTE Pro	310	35th	6th
2015	Aston Martin Racing	Stefan Mücke Rob Bell	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	GTE Pro	110	DNF	DNF

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Complete V8 Supercar results

+ Not eligible for points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

† There was no drivers championship that year, the result indicates rank in the LMGTE Pro Trophy.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darren Turner.

• Darren Turner official website
• Darren Turner career summary at DriverDB.com
• Darren Turner on Twitter
• Profile at BTCCPages.com

Aston Martin Racing Noted personnel Lionel Martin Robert Bamford Ted Cutting Willie Watson Frank Feely David Brown Noted drivers Roy Salvadori Carroll Shelby Maurice Trintignant David Brabham Darren Turner Rickard Rydell Stéphane Ortelli Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke Bruno Senna Frédéric Makowiecki Le Mans Cars DB1 DB2 DB3S DBR1 RHAM/1 AMR1 DBR9 Formula One cars DBR4 DBR5 Current Le Mans Team Aston Martin Racing