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BTCC FINALE GOES DOWN TO THE WIRE
15/10/2007
After a season-long, incredibly tight battle between the two motor manufacturers involved in this year’s British Touring Car Championship, SEAT and Vauxhall, it went down to the final race of 30 before the Manufacturers’, Teams’ and Drivers’ titles were decided yesterday at Thruxton. Ultimately it was Vauxhall who came out top in the Drivers and Manufacturers Championships, while SEAT were the victors in the Teams Championship.
A puncture two laps from the end of the first race effectively put paid to a sure 4th place finish for Darren Turner, and the resulting grid position for race two meant that he was not in the best position to be able to help his team mate, Jason Plato, to Championship victory. Despite Plato taking two second places and a fourth, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Vauxhall triumphed today, marking the end of a difficult weekend for SEAT’s Leamington-Spa based driver.
After the highs of Knockhill, the last round of the BTCC six weeks ago, when DT notched up pole position and two race wins out of three, Thruxton was always going to be something of a challenge for the SEAT Sport UK team. With Turner having been asked to play the team card in qualifying, he ended up in 7th place on the grid – only the second time this year that he’s qualified outside the top three.
“Jason did a good time in qualifying,” said Darren. “Even without his injuries [burns sustained earlier in the week during filming for Fifth Gear], that would have been a good time. I set an okay time, but then I used my remaining laps to help Jason get a tow. We were here as a team to do a job and there were three titles up for grabs, so that’s normal and it’s just something we had to do this weekend.”
A last lap puncture heart-breakingly brought Turner’s challenge for a strong points scoring finish to a halt, and his 18th place finish meant that he had much work to do in the second race. He battled through the highly competitive field to finish in 11th place in race two, and did the same again in race three to come through to 6th place. While his lap times were on a par with the race winners, his race results didn’t do his performance justice.
“We were a bit unfortunate yesterday,” he said. “We showed some good pace, but I was unlucky in race one to pick up a puncture and that put me towards the back of the grid in race two and I wasn’t in a position to help Jason or score a lot of Manufacturers’ points. In the last race I tried to get as close to Jason as I could, but when I got there my tyres were past their best.
“I’ve had a few good results this year, and my win at Croft and double race victory at Knockhill are certainly the highlights, but I want to prove that I can win races on a regular basis. As a team we’ve had a lot of success this season, and I hope I’ll find myself in a position to prove that again next year.”
Darren, 34, lives near Banbury in Oxfordshire. Successful in many different categories of motorsport, his most notable and high profile victories have been at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the British Touring Car Championship. He's a firm favourite with teams, fans, and media alike from around the world.
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