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SUFFERING SNETTERTON
01/08/2007
Disappointment at a lack of straight line speed and some frustrating technical failures did not prevent Darren Turner from claiming three top ten finishes (6th/4th/9th) in the weekend’s latest rounds of the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton, Norfolk. Darren’s contribution to the SEAT Sport UK team’s points tally has enabled them to maintain a lead in the BTCC Teams’ Championship and keep alive its challenge for the Manufacturers’ title.
Darren was looking forward to returning to a track he knows extremely well, having lived in Norfolk during his early racing career, and also having completed many thousands of miles there in testing for Prodrive. The weekend didn’t, however, start well. “In the first practice session I had an oil pressure sensor fail which was frustrating as I missed the whole session,” recounts Darren. “It turned out there was nothing wrong with the engine, it was just the sensor but it put us on the back foot going into the second session and qualifying.”
After taking p3 on his first run early in the 30-minute qualifying session, giving team mate Jason Plato a tow at the same time, Darren then asked for a small change to the set up of the rear wing of his car for his second run. “But, as soon as I started my flying lap, I was struggling with the rear of the car,” said the Leamington-based man. “It turned out, after much investigation, to be a set up problem and I qualified sixth – the first time this year I’ve not been on the front two rows of the grid.”
The first of the day’s three races didn’t start too well when the clutch failed, “bogging me down at the start. You use the clutch quite a bit in these front wheel drive cars to smooth out the downshifts so that wasn’t ideal.” Turner was therefore pleased in the circumstances to come home in sixth place. “I was happy with my start in the second race,” he continued, “and had some good battles which got me up to second towards the end of the race and close to Giovanardi in the lead. With the Championship bigger picture in mind I then let my team mate through so finished fourth.”
The team man then had to face the most difficult part of his day. “I’ve never had a more frustrating race than the third and final one at Snetterton. I started third on the grid and dropped in behind Jason into the first corner, but then became a sitting duck to the rest of the field down the long Revett Straight as we just had no straight line speed. I think I must have had a problem with the car because people were getting a tow off me, overtaking and pulling away before we reached the braking area. I know straight line speed isn’t our strongest point, but it was very frustrating dropping from third to ninth. There isn’t a lot you can do in that situation and it was a disappointing end to what had been quite a positive race weekend. Roll on Brands Hatch now where I hope we can get reasonable results. The competition has come on leaps and bounds since the start of the season and we might struggle but we’ll give it all we’ve got, as always.”
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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