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23/09/2006
Darren Turner qualified just 0.007s behind his team mate Jason Plato today at Brands Hatch, securing his second front row start in two races. It is also SEAT Sport UK's second consecutive 1-2 qualifying performance.
The day had started out even better for Darren as he topped the time sheets at the end of the first practice session, despite being in the gravel trap as the chequered flag dropped.
On a fully dry track, Darren set the pace in practice around the Brands Indy circuit in a time of 49.646s. That was just 0.032s faster than team-mate Jason Plato. Unfortunately, he failed to see the chequered flag on his final run, lost control of his Leon and slid straight on into the gravel at the Druids Bend hairpin.
At first there appeared to be no apparent damage but gravel had been scooped up which meant that the mechanics subsequently had to change the engine before qualifying. This meant that Darren frustratingly had to sit out the second practice session.
Despite this, it was a happy Darren at the end of the day. "I'm pretty pleased with my qualifying performance especially as I haven't raced here for quite some time. We didn't have the chance to do any qualifying set up work, and we tried something on the car which didn't work as well as we'd hoped so that compromised our qualifying set up. I now hope I have some good results tomorrow in the races, and that they stand!"
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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