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Turner Denied Victory

Engine Failure At Daytona

Darren Turner was up to 3rd place in the Rolex 24 at Daytona yesterday, with a chance for victory firmly in sight, when an engine failure on his Krohn Racing Lola Ford caused the No.76 car's retirement just after the six hour mark. It was a very disappointing end to what was promising to be an excellent race in a highly competitive field.

Returning to Krohn Racing for the second consecutive year, Darren and his team mates Nic Jönsson and Ricardo Zonta were well-placed to improve upon their 2008 fourth place finish. After qualifying in third place on the grid and never being out of contact with the front of the leader board for the first quarter of the 24-hour race in Florida, the bright green car was running very strongly and reliably. It was, however, Turner's misfortune to be at the wheel when he experienced a loss of power.

The car returned to the pit garage where the Krohn Racing team worked feverishly for an hour trying to resolve the problem which was traced to a crank sensor not receiving a signal from the trigger in the engine. Despite changing the sensor, the engine refused to crank and the No. 76 was reluctantly withdrawn from the race. Some six hours later, the sister Krohn Racing car was also retired with a similar problem - two of six Ford-engined cars to suffer the same component failure.

"It's obviously devastating for us all to be out of the race so early, said Darren. "The team had prepared so well for this race and had three very good tests. Ricardo did a great job in qualifying, and our race pace was looking strong so to be knocked out with a technical problem very early in the event is a big blow for everyone.

"Our race position frequently changed throughout the early stages but the guys did a fantastic job in the pits to keep us in contention. By the time the problem occurred I had just taken third from a restart, the car felt good under me and I was in a strong position to challenge for the lead. We had good speed at times and our goal was to stay out of trouble and let the race come to us. We were exactly where we wanted to be which makes it a bitter pill to swallow, that something so small as a sensor should cost us the race.

"After taking fourth here last year our goal was to make it onto the podium, and although this was cut short there are plenty of positives the team can take away with them. Already I'm thinking about next year and making it up onto the top step. Once again I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here with Krohn Racing; it's a fantastic team and I hope to be back racing with them again in the future."