Darren Turner - Biography
| Date of birth: | 13 April 1974 |
| Place of birth: | Camberley, Surrey, UK |
| Nationality: | British |
| Lives: | Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK |
| Hobbies: | Flying (holds PPL licence), golf, mountain-biking and property development |
Darren Turner is one of the UK's most successful and experienced racing drivers. His talent was recognised early in his career when he won the much-coveted McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, joining an elite group of racers including David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and current F1 World Champion Jenson Button. Darren worked for many years as a test driver for the McLaren F1 Team, alongside a busy racing career in single-seaters, touring cars and sportscars.
Since 2005 Darren has been a key member of the Aston Martin Racing team, a project that has seen him win the toughest race of them all, the Le Mans 24 Hours, two years in succession. Now an Official Works Driver for Aston Martin Racing, he is competing in the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship in the DBR9, the Le Mans Series in the Vantage GT2 and the Le Mans 24 Hours in the Aston Martin LMP1 car.
In addition to his racing Darren runs 'Base Performance', a company offering specialist expertise to the motorsport and automotive industries, in regard to simulator set-up and development and the development of race and road cars.
Career Highlights
2010
As an Official Works Driver for Aston Martin Racing, Darren is competing in the inaugural FIA GT1 World Championship in 2010. Driving for the Young Driver AMR team, Darren and his team-mate, Tomas Enge, are racing the DBR9 all over the world, from the Middle East, through Europe and onto South Africa and South America. Darren is also competing in the Le Mans Series in the JMW Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT2, where he partners double GT2 Le Mans Series Champion, Rob Bell. He will return to Le Mans in June to drive the Aston Martin LMP1 car at the world-famous 24 hour race.
2009
In 2009 Darren competed in the Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24 Hours in the Aston Martin LMP1 car, which he qualified on the front row of the grid first time out. He played a key role in Aston Martin Racing winning the 2010 Le Mans Series Teams' title.
He also raced the brand-new Nissan GT-R in selected rounds of the FIA GT Championship, taking a stunning podium in the car's first ever 24 hour race at Spa in July.
2008
This was the year that Darren did the double with another victory at Le Mans in the DBR9, this time with Antonio Garcia and David Brabham. A full season in the BTCC saw Darren take more victories for SEAT Sport and he even found the time to enter his first Grand Am race: The Rolex 24 at Daytona with Krohn Racing, and finished a fantastic fourth. He was now also working with the Toyota F1 team, developing their race simulator. He topped off another great year of racing with a podium finish for the Gigawave Motorsport team at the Spa 24 Hours.
2007
The highlight of 2007 is without doubt the first victory at Le Mans for the Aston Martin DBR9 in the hands of Darren, David Brabham and Rickard Rydell. Darren also completed his first full season in the BTCC where he claimed three victories and two pole positions for SEAT Sport. He raced in a number of other sportscar events in the USA and Europe and began to work with Red Bull Racing to help the F1 team develop their race simulator.
2006
A return to Le Mans with Aston Martin produced a second place class finish. This was a busy year for Darren as he completed most of the American Le Mans Series, winning two races, including the prestigious Petit Le Mans, and made his debut in the BTCC with SEAT Sport, where he finished on the podium in his first race.
2005
As a works driver for Aston Martin Racing, Darren was a key member of the squad that competed at Le Mans in 2005. Third in class at the first attempt was just reward for a lot of hard work, including 10,000 miles of testing in the new car. Darren also competed in many more races in the DBR9, taking a class win at Sebring and in the Nürburgring 1000kms.
2004
Darren got the call up from Aston Martin Racing to be the chief test and development driver on their new DBR9 sportscar project. He also raced the Prodrive Ferrari 550 to a third place class finish at the Le Mans 24 Hours, alongside team-mates Colin McRae and Rickard Rydell.
2003
Sportscars beckoned for Darren and he competed in the FIA GT Championship with Team Maranello Concessionaires; the Sebring 12 Hours and Le Mans 24 Hours with Veloqx Prodrive Racing, and the Miami round of the American Le Mans Series where he won the GTS class. He also continued to test for McLaren.
2002
Darren returned to the UK to take part in a new series called ASCAR, the British version of NASCAR, where he took six race wins during the season.
2001
Darren was snapped up by Team Rosberg Mercedes in 2000 to become a works driver for two seasons in the German Touring Car (DTM) Series. He also continued his testing duties for the McLaren Mercedes F1 team.
2000
Darren was snapped up by Team Rosberg Mercedes in 2000 to become a works driver for two seasons in the German Touring Car (DTM) Series. He also continued his testing duties for the McLaren Mercedes F1 team.
Pre-2000
Darren got his first taste of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1999 when he became a member of the AMG Mercedes squad. He won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1996 and was soon out testing for the McLaren, Jordan and Arrows F1 Teams. McLaren snapped him up and he remained with the Woking-based team until 2006 as test driver and official driver of the McLaren Mercedes? two-seater Grand Prix car programme. Prior to this Darren had a strong start to his racing career in various single-seater categories, including Formula Palmer Audi where he was Championship Runner-Up, Formula 3, Formula Renault, Formula Vauxhall and Formula First.
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