Darren Turner

Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British racing driver. He races for Aston Martin Racing as a factory driver since 2005, and also works as a high-performance test driver for Aston Martin. He has three class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Career

Turner won McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award in 1996. He was test driver for McLaren in Formula One from 1999 to 2004, but has raced primarily in touring cars and sportscars since 2000. He spent two years in the DTM for Keke Rosberg's Mercedes-Benz-powered team, also winning several ASCAR races. In 2006, he raced sportscars for Aston Martin, but also competed five rounds of the British Touring Car Championship for SEAT, sharing their second car with James Thompson. In his first drive for the team, he finished third.

Turner remained with the team for 2007, now full-time team-mate to Plato. Luck was again against him at Rockingham – after qualifying on pole the car had an electrical failure before race one. His first win came in race 11 at Croft , with two more at Knockhill.

Turner driving for SEAT at the Oulton Park round of the 2007 British Touring Car Championship. Turner driving for Aston Martin Racing at the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he won in LMGT1.

As well as driving for SEAT in the BTCC, Turner also competed in the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours, competing in the GT1 class driving for Prodrive Aston Martin Racing alongside David Brabham and Rickard Rydell. After a tense fight against the Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R of Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows, the Aston prevailed to win a Le Mans class race for the first time since the return of Aston Martin to endurance sportscar racing.

Turner opened his 2008 racing season by competing in the Rolex 24 finishing fourth in class and overall sharing a Krohn Racing Pontiac-Riley with Niclas Jonsson and Ricardo Zonta. At the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, Turner won the GT1 class (13th overall) driving an Aston Martin DBR9 shared with David Brabham and Antonio García.

Turner also participated in the Gold Coast 600 race as part of the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship. He entered the race as a replacement driver to Dan Wheldon, who was scheduled to drive in the race but was killed in a 15-car crash at the IndyCar World Championship race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, less than a week before the race.

In 2012, Turner competed in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin Racing in the GTE-Pro class Aston Martin Vantage.

In the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, Turner and the Aston Martin Racing finished third place in the GTE-Pro class along with his co-drivers the German Stefan Mücke and the Mexican Adrián Fernández, their Aston Martin Vantage 4.5 L-V8 covered a total of 332 laps (2,811.65 miles), in the Circuit de la Sarthe without failure or serious mechanical problems. The team also achieved the fastest lap of the category with 3 minutes and 54.928 seconds.

Turner continued to race for Aston Martin Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship until 2020, notching up numerous victories, the biggest of which was his third 24 Hours of Le Mans win, which came in 2017. He raced the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE to a class win in GTE Pro, alongside Jonny Adam and Daniel Serra. It was Turner who took the GTE Pro pole position for the 2017 race with a time that broke the lap record.

Turner continues to race, competing in events including the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

As a high-performance development driver for Aston Martin, Turner has worked on the development of cars including the Aston Martin Vulcan and the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

Turner is also a regular competitor at the Goodwood Revival, and in 2018, he was named "Rolex Driver of the Meeting" in recognition of his performances at the event.

Racing record

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Veloqx Prodrive Racing Anthony Davidson Kelvin Burt Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello GTS 176 DNF DNF Prodrive Racing Colin McRae Rickard Rydell Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello GTS 329 9th 3rd Aston Martin Racing David Brabham Stéphane Sarrazin Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 333 9th 3rd Aston Martin Racing Tomáš Enge Andrea Piccini Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 350 6th 2nd Aston Martin Racing David Brabham Rickard Rydell Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 343 5th 1st Aston Martin Racing David Brabham Antonio García Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 344 13th 1st Aston Martin Racing Anthony Davidson Jos Verstappen Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 LMP1 342 13th 11th Aston Martin Racing Juan Barazi Sam Hancock Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 LMP1 368 DNF DNF Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke Christian Klien Aston Martin AMR-One LMP1 4 DNF DNF Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke Adrián Fernández Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTEPro 332 19th 3rd Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke Peter Dumbreck Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTEPro 314 17th 3rd Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke Bruno Senna Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTEPro 310 35th 6th Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke Rob Bell Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTEPro 110 DNF DNF Aston Martin Racing Marco Sørensen Nicki Thiim Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTEPro 338 23rd 5th Aston Martin Racing Jonathan Adam Daniel Serra Aston Martin Vantage GTE GTEPro 340 17th 1st Aston Martin Racing Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen Aston Martin Vantage AMR GTEPro 339 23rd 8th Aston Martin Racing Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen Aston Martin Vantage AMR GTEPro 132 DNF DNF

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) ( signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pos Pts 2006 SEAT Sport UK SEAT León BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 MON1 MON2 MON3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 14th 41 2007 SEAT Sport UK SEAT León BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 DON1 DON2 DON3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 6th 160 2008 SEAT Sport UK SEAT León TDI BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE219* SNE3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 8th 133center|small|Sources: 2012 Holden Racing Team Holden VE Commodore ADE R1 ADE R2 SYM R3 SYM R4 HAM R5 HAM R6 PER R7 PER R8 PER R9 PHI R10 PHI R11 HDV R12 HDV R13 TOW R14 TOW R15 QLD R16 QLD R17 SMP R18 SMP R19 SAN Q SAN R20 BAT R21 SUR R22 SUR R23 YMC R24 YMC R25 YMC R26 WIN R27 WIN R28 SYD R29 SYD R30 NC 0 + + Not eligible for points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points 2012 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SEB SPA LMS SIL SÃO BHR FUJ SHA 35th 7 2013 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS SÃO COA FUJ SHA BHR 3rd 125.5 2014 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS COA FUJ SHA BHR SÃO 5th 102 2015 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS NÜR COA FUJ SHA BHR 10th 67 2016 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 6th 115 2017 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 7th 101 2018–19 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 SPA LMS SIL FUJ SHA SEB SPA LMS 18th 25 2019–20 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Am Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 SIL FUJ SHA BHR COA SPA LMS BHR 11th 78.5center|small|Source: 2015 Aston Martin Racing GTLM Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS ELK VIR COA PET 19th 52 2020 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY DAY SEB ELK VIR ATL MDO CLT PET LGA SEB 31st 77 2021 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY SEB MDO DET WGL WGL LIM ELK LGA LBH VIR PET 49th 285 2022 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA MDO DET WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR PET 59th 230 2023 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR IMS PET 44th 375 2025 Heart of Racing Team GTD Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo Aston Martin M177 4.0 L Turbo V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS ELK VIR IMS PET 76th 206

Complete European Le Mans Series results Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points 2016 Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL IMO RBR LEC SPA EST 1st 98 2017 Beechdean AMR LMGTE Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 SIL MNZ RBR LEC SPA ALG 5th 75

Complete British GT Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points 2018 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 GT3 OUL1 OUL2 ROC1 SNE1 SNE2 SIL1 SPA1 BRH1 DON1 5th 102.5 2019 M2 Competition Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 GT3 OUL1 OUL2 SNE1 SNE2 SIL1 DON1 SPA1 BRH1 DON1 NC† 0† 2021 Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 GT4 BRH1 SIL1 DON1 SPA1 SNE1 SNE2 OUL1 OUL2 DON1 4th 106.5 2022 Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 GT4 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1 DON1 SNE1 SNE2 SPA1 BRH1 DON1 2nd 163 2026 Grange Racing by FSR Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo GT4 SIL1 OUL1 OUL2 SPA1 SNE1 SNE2 DON1 BRH1 4th* 98.5* † As Turner was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. Season still in progress.

Complete Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2019 D'station Racing AMR Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 GT300 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT SUG MOT NC 0