Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

and owner of Base Performance Simulators. He races for

Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Racing is a British auto racing team established in 2004 as a partnership between automobile manufacturer Aston Martin and engineering group Prodrive. The partnership was initially created for the purpose of returning Aston ...

as a factory driver and also works as a high performance test driver for

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

. He was McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year in 1996. He is a former test driver for the

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

team, but has raced primarily in

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

and sportscars since 2000. He spent 2 years in the DTM for

Keke Rosberg Keijo Erik "Keke" Rosberg (; born 6 December 1948) is a Finnish former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won five Grand ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

-powered team, also winning several ASCAR races. In 2006 he raced sportscars for

, but also competed five rounds of the

British Touring Car Championship The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...

for

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

, sharing their 2nd car with James Thompson. In his first drive for the team he finished 3rd. He remained with the team for

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, 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 Croftbr>
, with two more at Knockhill. Darren Turner 2007 BTCC Oulton Park

As well as driving for SEAT in the BTCC, Darren also competed in the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours, competing in the GT1 class driving for

Prodrive Prodrive is an England, English motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire. History Prodrive was founded in 1984 by Ian Parry and David Richards (motorsport executive), David Richards. Prodrive sold its 51% s ...

alongside

David Brabham David Philip Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians to have ...

and Rickard Rydell. After a tense fight against the

Corvette Racing Corvette Racing was an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing was originally the official racing program for General M ...

Corvette C6.R of Johnny O'Connell,

Jan Magnussen Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Champ Car, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA ...

and

Ron Fellows Ronald Charles Fellows Order of Canada, CM (born September 28, 1959) is a Canadian retired auto racing driver. Personal life Fellows was born in Windsor, Ontario, on September 28, 1959. At age four, he became interested in auto racing with his ...

, the Aston prevailed to win a Le Mans class race for the first time since the return of Aston Martin to endurance sportscar racing. He opened his 2008 racing season by competing in the Rolex 24 finishing 4th in class and overall sharing a Krohn Racing Pontiac-

Riley Riley may refer to: Businesses * Riley (brand), British sporting goods brand founded in 1878 * Riley Motor, British motorcar and bicycle manufacturera 1890–1969 * Riley Technologies, American auto racing constructor and team, founded by Bob ...

with Niclas Jonsson and

Ricardo Zonta Ricardo Luiz Zonta (; born March 23, 1976) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 10 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross for RCM Motorsport. Early career Born in ...

. At the

2008 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The test day was on June 1. The race was atten ...

Turner won the GT1 class (13th overall) driving an Aston Martin DBR9 shared with

and Antonio García. Turner also participated in the

Gold Coast 600 The Gold Coast 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Boost Mobile (Australia), Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars Championship, Supercars, held at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Parad ...

race as part of the

2011 International V8 Supercars Championship The 2011 International V8 Supercar Championship (often simplified to the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship) was an Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the thirteent ...

. He entered the race as a replacement driver to

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 Indianapol ...

, 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 Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

, less than a week before the race. In 2012, Turner competed in the

2012 FIA World Endurance Championship The 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship was the inaugural running of the FIA World Endurance Championship, World Endurance Championship. It was co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ou ...

with

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 Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1963) is a Mexican former professional race car driver and co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team. Racing career Early career Fernández was born in Mexico City and began his career in Mexico at the age ...

, their Aston Martin Vantage 4.5 L-V8 covered a total of 332 laps (2,811.65 miles), in the

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 H ...

without failure or serious mechanical problems. Also the team achieved the

fastest lap In motorsports, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. In some racing series, like NASCAR, the fastest lap award championship points for a driver or team. In Formula One and MotoGP no point is awarded for the fastest lap. Formula O ...

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 #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 pole position for the 2017 race with a time that broke the lap record. Darren 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

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)

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Complete V8 Supercar results

+ Not eligible for points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Complete British GT Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Turner was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete Super GT results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links