BTCC Action >> Drivers >> Darren Turner

Darren Turner

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Career BTCC Results BTCC Photos

Above: Turner in March 2008.		Nationality: British Date of birth: 13 April 1974 Place of birth: Reading, England Status: Single Website: www.darrenturner.net BTCC Debut: Thruxton, 4 June 2006, SEAT Sport UK, SEAT Leon BTCC Races: 75* BTCC Wins: 5* BTCC Podiums: 14* BTCC Points: 334* BTCC Seasons: 3* * after Round 30 2008
Darren Turner has had a varied career in motorsport to date. He started out as many young racing drivers have by attending the famous Jim Russell Racing School in 1992 before following through the ranks of Formula First, Formula Vauxhall, Formula Renault and Formula 3. In 1996, whilst racing in Formula Renault he won the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, which opened up the possibility of F1 testing with McLaren, which he continued for the next 9 years. In the following years Turner has experienced some of motorsport's most prestigious championships and races including British Formula 3, Italian Formula 3000, ASCAR, DTM, the FIA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24 hour race, which he has taken victory in class in in 2007.
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Turner's debut season in 2006 saw him sharing the second car of the SEAT team with James Thompson, effectively filling the seat when the BTCC clashed with Thompson's WTCC driving. He showed speed but was hindered by poor luck. Nevertheless, SEAT decided to offer him a full-time drive for 2007 that saw him playing a supporting role to Jason Plato's championship ambitions. Taking his first win at Croft and duly following it up with a dominant weekend at Knockhill, Turner had an extremely respectable first full season in the BTCC.		Above: Turner during his first BTCC season in 2006.
2008 saw the SEAT team take on diesel power for the first time. The first half of the year saw the team struggling to adapt to the new technology, due in part to a lack of pre-season testing. In the second half of the year the cars had the pace, but lacked reliability and often Turner found himself short of luck. Resigned to supporting team-mate Plato's championship ambitions once again, Turner was never able to shine in his own light in what was a frustrating season.

Career Rundown

2008:	British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK, SEAT Leon 8th overall, 2 wins Le Mans 24 Hours, GT1 Class, Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin DBR9 1st in class, 13th overall
2007:	British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK, SEAT Leon 6th overall, 3 wins Le Mans 24 Hours, GT1 Class, Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin DBR9 1st in class, 5th overall
2006:	British Touring Car Championship, SEAT Sport UK, SEAT Leon 14th overall, entered 15 races
2005:	Le Mans 24 Hours, GT1 Class, Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin DBR9 3rd in class, 9th overall FIA GT Championship, Prodrive, Aston Martin DBR9, Selected races McLaren F1 Test Driver
2004:	Le Mans 24 Hours, GTS Class, Prodrive, Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello 3rd in class, 9th overall McLaren F1 Test Driver
2003:	FIA GT Championship, NGT Class, Team Maranello, Ferrari 360 Modena 8th overall American Le Mans Series, GTS Class, Veloqx Motorsport, Ferrari 360 Modena 12th overall (Selected races) McLaren F1 Test Driver
2002:	ASCAR, Team HTML 7th overall, 6 wins McLaren F1 Test Driver
2001:	DTM, Team Rosberg/AMG 15th overall McLaren F1 Test Driver
2000:	DTM, Team Rosberg/AMG 14th overall McLaren F1 Test Driver
1999:	Italian Formula 3000, Redgrave Racing, Selected Races McLaren F1 Test Driver
1998:	Formula Palmer Audi 2nd overall, 3 wins McLaren F1 Test Driver
1997:	British Formula 3, Portman Racing/TOMS GB McLaren F1, Jordan F1 and Arrows F1 Test Drives
1996:	Formula Renault UK, Redgrave Racing, Van Diemen 2nd overall, 2 wins Wins McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award
1995:	Formula Renault UK, Redgrave Racing, Van Diemen 4th overall, 1 win
1994:	Formula Vauxhall Championship with Speedsport
1993:	Formula First Winter Series, Speedsport Champion, 3 wins
1992:	Jim Russell Racing Driver's School

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Select Archive Circuits Drivers      Allison, Matt      Chilton, Tom      Collard, Rob      Giovanardi, Fabrizio      Jackson, Mat      Jelley, Stephen      Jones, Adam      Jordan, Andrew      Jordan, Mike      Kane, Steven      Kizilirmak, Erkut      Leggate, Fiona      Leslie, David      Menu, Alain      Neal, Matt      Onslow-Cole, Tom      Pickford, James      Plato, Jason      Shedden, Gordon      Smith, Gavin      Stockton, Chris      Thompson, James      Turkington, Colin      Turner, Darren      Vaulkhard, Harry Results      2008      2007      2006      2005      2004      2003      2002 Teams