Credentials…
2008 SEAT Sport UK driver in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship
2007 6th in the BTCC for Drivers’ – with 3 wins and 6 podiums
1st in the GT1 class and 5th overall in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving for Aston Martin Racing
2006 Debut in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Champioships, finishing 3rd in his first race (at Thruxton). Contested half the season and scored 41 points in his eight race finishes in a Leon. 6th in the GT1 Drivers' standings American Le Mans Series season (minus Mosport which clashed with the BTCC) with Aston Martin Racing, scoring 2 wins and 6 podiums in a DBR9. 1st at Petit Le Mans (with Thomas Enge).
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. 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.
Although 2004 was not the busiest year for Turner in terms of races, he nevertheless turned a great many miles at circuits around the world. As well as becoming chief test and development driver for Aston Martin Racing on their new DBR9 sportscar project, he also tested and raced a Prodrive-run Ferrari 550 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teamed with former World Rally Champion Colin McRae and former British Touring Car Champion Rickard Rydell, the trio came through an eventful race to take a well-earned podium place 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.
As the only Briton driving for the British Aston Martin Racing team, a class win at the 2005 Sebring 12 Hours was a dream start to the season. As well as continuing with the DBR9’s test and development programme, notching up more than 10,000 miles over the course of the year, Darren raced the GT1 car on a further seven occasions and won again at the Nurburgring 1000kms round of the Le Mans Endurance Series in a privately-owned, Cirtek-run entry.
In addition to his racing activities, Darren attained a long held ambition and gained his private fixed-wing pilot’s licence. He also 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 made his debut in the British Touring Car Championship and immediately showed his potential with 3rd in his very first race in a front-wheel drive car. He was originally scheduled to contest four out of the 10 BTCC race weekends, but ended up doing five when SEAT Sport UK ran all three of its drivers (Jason Plato, James Thompson and Darren) on the final race weekend. Despite dipping in and out of the BTCC in 2006, Darren scored 41 points in his eight race finishes and, more importantly, helped SEAT win the BTCC Manufacturers’ title for the first time.
Darren also contested the American Le Mans Series season (minus Mosport which clashed with the BTCC) with Aston Martin, scoring 2 wins and 6 podiums in a DBR9. The highlight was winning Petit Le Mans with Tomas Enge - in just a two-driver team, where most teams had three drivers.
In 2007, Darren contested the full BTCC for the first time, driving a SEAT Sport UK Leon in all 30 races. He was the master of qualifying and started from the front row five times out of 10 – two of which were from pole position. However, he was often unlucky on race day morning, and was pushed off his pole place at Rockingham when the car’s started motor failed. He often had to fight from the back of the gird in the second race, where his superb race craft and overtaking skills came to the fore. He achieved three race wins and finished 6th overall in the Drivers’ standings, and helped SEAT Sport UK win the Teams’ title for the first time.
In addition to the BTCC, Darren also contested a number of sports car races in Europe and America. The highlight came at his third attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, when he won the GT1 class and finished 5th overall, with David Brabham and Rickard Rydell, in an Aston Martin Racing DBR9.
Darren will continue to race for SEAT Sport UK in the 2008 BTCC.
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