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BRANDS BAD LUCK STRIKES AGAIN
19/08/2007
A podium finish in the first of today’s three races on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent was scant reward for Darren Turner’s prodigious pace in practice and qualifying, and his final results for the weekend were classified as 3rd/DNF/15th. As so often this year, the weather and track conditions also played a part in the final outcome.
Having topped the time sheets in the second practice session yesterday, Darren narrowly missed out on pole position to Colin Turkington by just 2/1000ths of a second. A front row start was, however, a good start to the weekend’s racing for the SEAT Sport UK driver and maintained his excellent BTCC qualifying record. After managing to avoid the multiple-car accident which caused the first race to be red-flagged for 35 minutes, Darren then went on to challenge for the lead on a still slippery track, setting fastest lap of the race on lap two.
“I had a good fight with Colin Turkington’s BMW, but went wide at Paddock Hill Bend so dropped down from 2nd to 6th,” said Darren. “We had great pace though and, with Jason in front of me, I was able to defend to keep the pack behind me and help him go on to get second place. I was happy with third and it put me in a good position for the start of the second race.”
Unfortunately the day went down hill from thereon, as he was effectively wiped out from the remaining two races through no fault of his own. As Darren explains, “I didn’t really have a second race, because I was pushed into the wall before I got to the first corner.” Squeezed and then hit by both the Team RAC BMWs, DT took no further part in the race.
“The guys did a fantastic job to get the car back together in time for the third race,” he continued, “but we didn’t have a dry set up so our pace was compromised throughout. I started 16th and got as high as 9th, but was in the middle of the pack and we just all bunched up. Tom Onslow-Cole and Adam Jones came together at the bottom of Graham Hill Bend and I overtook Gavin Smith on the inside by following Jason through. Unfortunately, Adam bounced back right in front of me and there wasn’t anything I could do to miss him. It was a reasonably large impact, but the team told me to get the car across the line to score Manufacturer points, so that’s what I did.”
Today’s results move Darren up to 7th in the Drivers’ Championship and helped SEAT Sport maintain its lead in the Teams’ Championship. The penultimate race weekend in the British Touring Car Championship takes place at Knockhill in Scotland on the 1st/2nd September.
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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