Credentials…
2005 Key
member of the driving force
in Aston Martin’s return
to international sportscar
racing with the DBR9
1st at Sebring
(with David Brabham and Stephane
Ortelli)
3rd at Le Mans
(with David Brabham and Stephane
Sarrazin)
2nd in the Tourist
Trophy at Silverstone (with
David Brabham)
1st at the
Nurburgring 1000kms in a
Cirtek Aston Martin
2004 Le
Mans with Prodrive
Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello – 3rd
in GTS class (with Rickard Rydell
and Colin McRae). Set new lap
record.
McLaren F1 test
driver
2003 FIA
GT Championship with
Team Maranello Concessionaires
Sebring (3rd) and Le Mans
(DNF) with Veloqx Prodrive
Racing (with Kelvin Burt
and Anthony Davidson)
Miami ALMS
(with David Brabham) in Prodrive
Ferrari – 1st
GTS
McLaren F1 test driver
2002 7th – British
ASCAR Championship
with the HTML team
with 6 race wins
McLaren F1
test driver
2001 DTM
Championship (German
Touring Cars) with Team Rosberg/AMG
Mercedes McLaren F1 test
driver
2000 DTM
Championship (German
Touring Cars) with Team Rosberg/AMG
Mercedes
McLaren F1 test
driver
1999 Member
of AMG Mercedes driver
squad for Le Mans
Official
driver of McLaren’s
two-seater Grand Prix car
programme
McLaren F1 test
driver
1998 2nd – Formula
Palmer Audi Championship
with three races
wins
Official driver of
McLaren’s
two-seater Grand Prix car
programme
McLaren
F1 test driver
1997 British
Formula 3 Championship
with Portman Racing/TOMS
GB
Test drives for McLaren,
Jordan and Arrows F1 teams
1996 2nd – British
Formula Renault
Sport Championship
with Redgrave
Racing with
2 race wins
and 7 podium finishes
Winner
BRDC/McLaren/Autosport Young
Driver of the Year Award
1995 4th – British
Formula Renault Sport
Championship with
Redgrave Racing with 1 race win
and 6 podium finishes
1994 Formula
Vauxhall Championship
with Speedsport
1993 Formula
First Winter Series
Champion with Speedsport,
with 3 races wins and 3 pole
positions
1992 Jim
Russell Racing Drivers’ School
including World Scholarship
Final
The
story so
far…
Darren started racing in the
amateur karting arena, making
the move to single seaters
in 1992 via the world-famous
Jim Russell Racing Drivers’ School
and, within five years, had
landed his first drive in a Formula
One Grand Prix car. A rapid
ascent to stardom by any standards.
Back in 1992, however, Darren’s
first taste of F1
was in a very different capacity.
He was working as a wind tunnel
model maker at Jordan
Grand Prix, living in a small
B&B in
Silverstone, and
persuading his father to take
him karting as often as possible.
His work-mates at Jordan eventually
clubbed together to send him
on a week’s
course at the Jim
Russell School and he did so
well there, making it into the
World Scholarship Final, that
his future motorsport career
was truly launched.
He ran his
own Formula First
privateer car in the 1993
National Championship, enjoying
instant success in his debut
year, winning three races on
the way to the Championship title.
A move to British Formula Renault
furthered his career significantly
as his results over two years
in this series not only netted
him numerous more victories and
podium finishes but also
brought him to the attention
of some important faces in the
higher echelons of the industry.
At the end of 1996 Darren was
voted winner of the McLaren/Autosport Young
Driver of the Year
award for young and upcoming
drivers.
A frustrating year
in British Formula
3 nevertheless led to confirmation
as official McLaren test
driver, a position Turner holds
to this day. He was also an integral
part of the high profile
West McLaren Mercedes Adrenaline
Programme which ran from 1998
to 2000 where he drove the
innovative MP4-98T two-seater
Grand Prix car at high profile
venues across the world.
Darren’s
first foray into
the world of international sportscar
racing came with his inclusion
in the AMG Mercedes driver squad
for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans
. The link with the
German marque was further extended
when he was snapped up by Team
Rosberg Mercedes to become a
works driver for two seasons
in the German Touring Car (DTM)
Series.
In 2002 Darren returned
to the UK to take
part in a new series called
ASCAR, the British version of
NASCAR. Against stiff opposition
he took six race wins although
the idiosyncratic scoring system
meant that he finished the Championship
in only 7th place overall.
In 2003 Darren returned to the
sportscar arena and
entered the FIA GT Championship
as part of the newly re-launched
Team Maranello Concessionaires.
He teamed up with Kelvin
Burt and Anthony Davidson in
a Veloqx Prodrive Racing Ferrari
550 GTS at Sebring and Le Mans – finishing
3 rd in the USA and
retiring in France when the clutch
failed. Darren also
won the GTS Class at the American
Le Mans Series (ALMS) race in
Miami , when he shared a Prodrive
Ferrari with David Brabham.
This
led to Darren racing
a Prodrive Ferrari 550 GTS
Maranello at Le Mans, where
he, Rickard Rydell and Colin
McRae finished 3 rd in the
GTS Class. 2004 was also the
seventh consecutive year that
he’d
worked with McLaren as one
of its Formula 1 test drivers.
When
Aston Martin returned
to international sportscar
racing in 2005, Darren was part
of a three-driver line-up that
drove the Prodrive-built DBR9
to victory on its race debut
at the 12 hour race at Sebring.
Second place at the Tourist Trophy
Race at Silverstone and 3 rd
at Le Mans followed. Darren also
won the Nurburgring 1000kms Race
in a Cirtek Aston Martin.
In
May 2005, Darren
gained his fixed-wing pilot’s
licence, and he’s a regular
flier out of his
base at Kidlington airport
near Oxford . Outside of motor
racing, Darren enjoys football
(he plays five-a-side every
Tuesday nights) and playing
golf. “I like all
sports with a ball,
I’m
just not very good
at them,” he
says modestly. “I’m
probably the hardest
working player on the football
pitch because I’m a lot
fitter than the guys I play
with and I’m able to
run around non-stop, but I’m
not exactly David Beckham when
it comes to skill with the
ball. I’m
normally the one
who has to run and get it when
I’ve
kicked it over the
fence!”
In 2006, Darren
will make
his first appearance in the British
Touring Car Championship. He
has also never raced a front-wheel
drive car before, but his stunning
performance during a secret test
at Rockingham in December 2005
convinced SEAT Sport UK that
he will quickly adapt to his
new surroundings and be able
to score valuable points in the
four BTCC races he will contest
this year.
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