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DT GOING FOR THE DOUBLE AT LE MANS
30/04/2008
It has been announced by Aston Martin Racing that defending GT1 class title winner, Darren Turner, will once again be a key member of their all-star driver line up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 14/15th June. He is the only British driver amongst the six international names, and is the only one to have represented the prestigious British marque at each of their three entries in the famous French endurance classic.
Turner, who has – since its inception - driven more miles in the Aston Martin DBR9 than any other driver, will be renewing his partnership with another of the 2007 winning driver line up, Australian David Braham, in the number 009 car. They will be joined in June by Spaniard Antonio Garcia who has been a race-winning member of one of Aston Martin's customer teams and who has partnered Darren on two previous occasions to great success.
Oxfordshire-based Darren will be contesting his sixth Le Mans 24 Hours this year, having been a permanent fixture in the Aston Martin Racing team since the DBR9's debut race at Sebring in 2005. At Le Mans, the team will be sporting the iconic colours of Gulf Oil instead of their more familiar Aston racing green, and Darren can't wait to get to France and get started.
"Winning the race last year was one of the highlights of my career," he said, "and it has given us added confidence, but it has probably also put even more pressure on as now we're the team to beat. The opposition has always been strong, but I'm sure that they will have been working even harder over the winter now that they know the level we're at.
"I think we've got a very solid line-up; the key to success at Le Mans is always good preparation, which so far we've been able to achieve. It's great to be partnering DB again as we've shared a lot of success in GT1 and, although we're not with our good friend, Rickard Rydell, this year Antonio is a fantastic addition to the line up. We've raced together at Team Modena and I know he's blindingly fast."
"I think we've got another very strong line-up this year," said Aston Martin Racing Team Principal George Howard-Chappell. "Darren and David are absolutely known quantities to us, having formed part of the crew that won GT1 last year, and it's very good to have them on board again. Antonio has been extremely active in our customer teams, and we have been very impressed with him throughout our testing programme."
Darren will not be at the official test day on the 1st June due to a clashing British Touring Car Championship event with SEAT Sport UK, but will be with Aston Martin Racing for the week leading up to the race which this year begins at 3.00pm on Saturday, 14th June.
Darren, 34, lives near Banbury in Oxfordshire. Successful in many different categories of motorsport, taking wins, podiums and points at almost every outing, he's going all out for 2008 BTCC success. He remains a firm favourite with teams, fans, and media alike.
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