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A LOOK AHEAD TO THRUXTON
03/05/2007
Despite the Hampshire track being an out-and-out power venue, Darren hopes his return to the place where he made his BTCC debut last year will see an end to his run of bad luck, as he aims for nothing less than his first BTCC race win.
While Jason has had a great start to the 2007 season – winning three races, finishing all six races inside the top five and notching up 74 points - it's been difficult for Darren, most of it through no fault of his own. Last year he had the best possible start to his BTCC career with a 3rd place podium finish in his first ever race and 5th in the next. Unfortunately the day ended in the crash barriers at the final chicane on the opening lap of the final race, after he was hit from behind whilst challenging for the lead, but Darren has learnt a lot about BTCC race craft since then and will head to Thruxton intent on scoring his maiden BTCC race win.
"Thruxton is my favourite circuit in the UK. We were quick from the word go there last year. I had a relatively good second race and in the final race I didn't even complete the first lap because of contact with Gordon Shedden coming into the final chicane. This year I'll be hoping for wins. I've had a pole, I've had a podium, I've had all the bad luck possible and it's about time I had a British Touring Car race win. The difficult thing will be how quick the opposition is around Thruxton. In theory, the BMW especially will be very fast, because it's got a lot of straight-line speed and Thruxton is all about grunt and how aero-efficient a car is. By the nature of the circuit, it's not one that should suit the Leon but, considering we thought that at Rockingham, I think we should at least be competitive and be able to pick up some points."
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Jay Davenport, SEAT Sport UK Design and Test Engineer: "Thruxton is the fastest circuit on the BTCC calendar with top speeds approaching 155mph. It's also the most demanding on tyres, so much so, that a different tyre construction is used for this race alone. Due to the hatchback body of the SEAT Leon the aerodynamic set-up is critical to ensure the lowest drag configuration is found whilst maintaining high speed stability through the fast stuff, especially Church corner. This is the fastest corner on the UK calendar and is taken at over 130mph. To spice things up further there is a big bump mid corner that upsets the cars. This bump combined with the big kerbs at the chicane mean that a good damper and spring set-up is required and with only two braking areas throughout the lap it is imperative that the brakes aren't allowed to cool too much and the brake pads can handle the big stops in these two areas. The target will be to qualify well as we now know that the Vauxhalls, BMWs and Hondas will be fast. The racing should be close throughout the field and there should be plenty of over taking with cars using the advantage of the slipstreaming available."
SEAT SPORT UK'S THRUXTON FACT FILE
The team scored an unexpected race win on its BTCC debut at Thruxton in 2004, when Jason Plato won the second race of the day in a SEAT Toledo. The team hasn't won there since, with one 2nd place (Jason in 2005) and two 3rds (Jason and Darren in 2006) being the only notable results.
Darren Turner made his BTCC debut at Thruxton last year. He qualified 6th and dropped to 8th after making his first standing start for eight years. In his first ever race in a front-wheel drive car, he overtook Rob Collard, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Gavin Smith, inherited 4th when Jason dropped out (of 3rd place with a puncture) and overtook Tom Chilton on the final lap to finish 3rd in his first BTCC race to share the podium with race winner Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal.
Before 2006, Darren's last race at Thruxton was in 1998, when he won a round of the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi Championship.
On Jeremy Clarkson's video 'Clarkson's Head to Head' Jason Plato (in a Porsche 911) races Niall McKenzie (on a Yamaha R1 Superbike) around Thruxton. Having taken Church Corner at 135mph and being overtaken on the following straight "like I was standing still", Plato eventually won the race by half a second.
Darren raced at Thruxton in the British Formula Renault Championship. In 1995 he was involved in a last lap accident, but returned to win with Redgrave Racing in 1996.
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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