Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British racing driver and owner of Base Performance Simulators. He races for Aston Martin Racing as a factory driver and also works as a high performance test driver for Aston Martin.

Darren Turner
Darren Turner in 2013
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (1974-04-13) 13 April 1974 (age 50)
Camberley, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season2012
Current teamAston Martin Racing
Racing licence FIA Gold
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years2003
TeamsProdrive Racing,
Aston Martin Racing
Best finish5th (2007)
Class wins3 (2007, 2008, 2017)
Car number98
Starts59
Wins8
Poles11
Fastest laps2
Best finish3rd in 2013
Previous series
200809
2008
200709
200608
2003, 200508
2003, 200709
2002
200001
200001
1999
1998
1997
1997, 1999
1995–96
1994
1993
Rolex Sports Car Series
Formula Ford 1600
Le Mans Series
BTCC
American Le Mans Series
FIA GT Championship
ASCAR
DTM
Formula One testing
Italian Formula 3000
Formula Palmer Audi
British Formula 3
Formula One testing
Formula Renault UK
Formula Vauxhall Lotus
FFirst Great Britain W. Series
Championship titles
2007, 2008
2017
1993
24 Hours of Le Mans – GT1
24 Hours of Le Mans – LMGTE Pro
FFirst Great Britain W. Series
Awards
1996McLaren Autosport Award

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 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 [1] Archived 8 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, 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 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]

Turner continued to race for Aston Martin Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship until 2020, notching up numerous victories, the biggest of which was his third 24 Hours of Le Mans win, which came in 2017. He raced the #97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE to a class win in GTE Pro, alongside Jonny Adam and Daniel Serra. It was Turner who took the GTE pole position for the 2017 race with a time that broke the lap record.

Darren continues to race, competing in events including the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

As a high performance development driver for Aston Martin, Turner has worked on the development of cars including the Aston Martin Vulcan and the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

Turner is also a regular competitor at the Goodwood Revival and in 2018 he was named "Rolex Driver of the Meeting" in recognition of his performances at the event.

Racing record

edit

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

edit

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

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2000 Team Rosberg AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM HOC
1

12
HOC
2

8
OSC
1

13
OSC
2

Ret
NOR
1

11
NOR
2

12
SAC
1

8
SAC
2

8
NÜR
1

15
NÜR
2

8
LAU
1

C
LAU
2

C
OSC
1

DNS
OSC
2

DNS
NÜR
1

13
NÜR
2

11
HOC
1

10
HOC
2

6
14th 19
2001 Team Rosberg AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM HOC
QR

6
HOC
CR

8
NÜR
QR

9
NÜR
CR

16
OSC
QR

14
OSC
CR

DSQ
SAC
QR

9
SAC
CR

Ret
NOR
QR

Ret
NOR
CR

11
LAU
QR

10
LAU
CR

9
NÜR
QR

Ret
NÜR
CR

8
A1R
QR

14
A1R
CR

10
ZAN
QR

15
ZAN
CR

8
HOC
QR

9
HOC
CR

8
15th 15
Sources:[3][4][5]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

edit
 
The #97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 during the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans
 
The #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR at the 6 Hours of Spa 2018
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
2016   Aston Martin Racing   Marco Sørensen
  Nicki Thiim
Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTE
Pro
338 23rd 5th
2017   Aston Martin Racing   Jonathan Adam
  Daniel Serra
Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTE
Pro
340 17th 1st
2018   Aston Martin Racing   Nicki Thiim
  Marco Sørensen
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GTE
Pro
339 23rd 8th
2019   Aston Martin Racing   Nicki Thiim
  Marco Sørensen
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GTE
Pro
132 DNF DNF
Sources:[3][6]

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

edit

(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)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pos Pts
2006 SEAT Sport UK SEAT León BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
MON
1
MON
2
MON
3
OUL
1
OUL
2
OUL
3
THR
1

3
THR
2

5
THR
3

Ret
CRO
1
CRO
2
CRO
3
DON
1

12
DON
2

9
DON
3

4
SNE
1
SNE
2
SNE
3
KNO
1

10
KNO
2

DSQ
KNO
3

4
BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

Ret
BRH
3

DNS
SIL
1

Ret
SIL
2

10
SIL
3

6
14th 41
2007 SEAT Sport UK SEAT León BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

4
BRH
3

DSQ
ROC
1

Ret
ROC
2

6
ROC
3

3
THR
1

3
THR
2

Ret
THR
3

6
CRO
1

4
CRO
2

1*
CRO
3

5
OUL
1

Ret
OUL
2

7
OUL
3

3
DON
1

12
DON
2

6
DON
3

9
SNE
1

6
SNE
2

4
SNE
3

9
BRH
1

3
BRH
2

Ret
BRH
3

15
KNO
1

1*
KNO
2

1*
KNO
3

7
THR
1

18
THR
2

11
THR
3

6
6th 160
2008 SEAT Sport UK SEAT León TDI BRH
1

4
BRH
2

5
BRH
3

Ret
ROC
1

2
ROC
2

3*
ROC
3

Ret
DON
1

19
DON
2

4
DON
3

1*
THR
1

6
THR
2

4
THR
3

16
CRO
1

15
CRO
2

9
CRO
3

Ret
SNE
1

2
SNE
2

19*
SNE
3

16
OUL
1

6
OUL
2

Ret
OUL
3

16
KNO
1

Ret
KNO
2

8
KNO
3

1*
SIL
1

3
SIL
2

Ret
SIL
3

19
BRH
1

7
BRH
2

Ret
BRH
3

12
8th 133
Sources:[3][5]

Complete GT1 World Championship results

edit
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points
2010 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DBR9 ABU
QR

Ret
ABU
CR

11
SIL
QR

4
SIL
CR

EX
BRN
QR

2
BRN
CR

2
PRI
QR

10
PRI
CR

16
SPA
QR

10
SPA
CR

6
NÜR
QR

1
NÜR
CR

1
ALG
QR

4
ALG
CR

10
NAV
QR

Ret
NAV
CR

4
INT
QR

2
INT
CR

10
SAN
QR

10
SAN
CR

15
4th 104
2011 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DBR9 ABU
QR

Ret
ABU
CR

5
ZOL
QR

Ret
ZOL
CR

7
ALG
QR

4
ALG
CR

2
SAC
QR

3
SAC
CR

3
SIL
QR

Ret
SIL
CR

Ret
NAV
QR

6
NAV
CR

Ret
PRI
QR

3
PRI
CR

2
ORD
QR

7
ORD
CR

5
BEI
QR

2
BEI
CR

1
SAN
QR

DNS
SAN
CR

DNS
2nd 120
Source:[4]

Complete V8 Supercar results

edit
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Final pos Points Ref
2011 Holden Racing Team Holden VE Commodore YMC
R1
YMC
R2
ADE
R3
ADE
R4
HAM
R5
HAM
R6
PER
R7
PER
R8
PER
R9
WIN
R10
WIN
R11
HDV
R12
HDV
R13
TOW
R14
TOW
R15
QLD
R16
QLD
R17
QLD
R18
PHI
Q
PHI
R19
BAT
R20
SUR
R21

14
SUR
R22

6
SYM
R23
SYM
R24
SAN
R25
SAN
R26
SYD
R27
SYD
R28
59th 165 [7]
2012 Holden Racing Team Holden VE Commodore ADE
R1
ADE
R2
SYM
R3
SYM
R4
HAM
R5
HAM
R6
PER
R7
PER
R8
PER
R9
PHI
R10
PHI
R11
HDV
R12
HDV
R13
TOW
R14
TOW
R15
QLD
R16
QLD
R17
SMP
R18
SMP
R19
SAN
Q
SAN
R20
BAT
R21
SUR
R22

7
SUR
R23

17
YMC
R24
YMC
R25
YMC
R26
WIN
R27
WIN
R28
SYD
R29
SYD
R30
NC 0 + [8]

+ Not eligible for points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

edit

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

Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2012 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SEB
3
SPA
Ret
LMS
3
SIL
2
SÃO
2
BHR
2
FUJ
3
SHA
1
35th 7
2013 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL
1
SPA
4
LMS
3
SÃO
2
COA
Ret
FUJ
1
SHA
1
BHR
Ret
3rd 125.5
2014 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL
3
SPA
4
LMS
10
COA
1
FUJ
9
SHA
Ret
BHR
2
SÃO
1
5th 102
2015 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL
5
SPA
5
LMS
Ret
NÜR
6
COA
6
FUJ
6
SHA
6
BHR
3
10th 67
2016 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL
3
SPA
Ret
LMS
2
NÜR
5
MEX
1
COA
5
FUJ
6
SHA
Ret
BHR
5
6th 115
2017 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL
7
SPA
7
LMS
1
NÜR
7
MEX
Ret
COA
5
FUJ
6
SHA
7
BHR
6
7th 101
2018–19 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 SPA
7
LMS
5
SIL FUJ SHA SEB
9
SPA
LMS
Ret
18th 25
2019–20 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Am Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 SIL
2
FUJ
11
SHA
3
BHR
2
COA
2
SPA LMS BHR 11th 78.5
Source:[3]

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

edit

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

Year Team Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos. Points Ref
2014 Aston Martin Racing GTLM Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 V8 DAY
8
SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS IMS ELK VIR COA PET 40th 24 [9]
2015 Aston Martin Racing GTLM Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 V8 DAY
6
SEB
6
LBH LGA WGL MOS ELK VIR COA PET 19th 52 [10]
2020 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY DAY SEB ELK VIR ATL
6
MDO CLT PET
11
LGA SEB
2
31st 77 [11]
2021 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY
5
SEB MDO DET WGL WGL LIM
ELK LGA LBH VIR PET 49th 285 [12]
2022 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY
9
SEB LBH LGA MDO DET WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR PET 59th 230 [13]
2023 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY
1
SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR IMS PET 44th 375 [14]
Source:[3]

* Season still in progress.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

edit
Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points
2016 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL
1
IMO
5
RBR
4
LEC
3
SPA
5
EST
1
1st 98
2017 Beechdean AMR LMGTE Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL
3
MNZ
3
RBR
6
LEC
5
SPA
3
ALG
4
5th 75
Source:[3]

Complete British GT Championship results

edit

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

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points
2018 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 GT3 OUL
1

2
OUL
2

6
ROC
1

3
SNE
1

11
SNE
2

2
SIL
1

9
SPA
1

Ret
BRH
1

4
DON
1

5
5th 102.5
2019 M2 Competition Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 GT3 OUL
1
OUL
2
SNE
1
SNE
2
SIL
1
DON
1
SPA
1

13
BRH
1
DON
1
NC† 0†
2021 Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 GT4 BRH
1
SIL
1

14
DON
1
SPA
1

7
SNE
1

20
SNE
2

19
OUL
1

11
OUL
2

19
DON
1

17
4th 106.5
2022 Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 GT4 OUL
1

20
OUL
2

15
SIL
1

15
DON
1

24
SNE
1

19
SNE
2

18
SPA
1

18
BRH
1

11
DON
1

19
2nd 163
Source:[3]

As Turner was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete Super GT results

edit

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

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points
2019 D'station Racing AMR Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ
11
AUT SUG MOT NC 0
Source:[3]

References

edit
  1. ^ "LeMans TV Live". Live.lemans-tv.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Aston Martin Vantage GTE Scores Podium on Le Mans Debut". Fernandezracing.net. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Darren Turner Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Darren Turner". Motor Sport. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Darren Turner race results". TouringCars.net. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Darren Turner". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  7. ^ "Darren Turner – 2011 V8 Supercars Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Darren Turner – 2012 V8 Supercars Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Darren Turner – 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Darren Turner – 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  11. ^ "Darren Turner – 2020 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Darren Turner – 2021 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Darren Turner – 2022 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Darren Turner – 2023 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
edit
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Mikkel Mac
Johnny Laursen
Andrea Rizzoli
European Le Mans Series
LMGTE Champion

2016
With: Alex MacDowall & Andrew Howard
Succeeded by
Jody Fannin
Robert Smith
Preceded by
Mia Flewitt
Euan Hankey
British GT Championship
GT4 Pro-Am Champion

2021-2022
With: Matt Topham
Succeeded by
Michael Johnston
Chris Salkeld
Awards
Preceded by McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
1996
Succeeded by