Turner aims for podium finish

Darren Turner believes his SEAT Leon will be strong enough at Croft (Sunday 3 June) to enable him to achieve three straight podium finishes. Turner’s car will go into the event free of success ballast so knows he will arrive in strong shape having also seen team-mate Jason Plato take podium results in all three races at the track last year.

The 33-year-old is also in buoyant mood having recently raced a Ferrari to victory in an American Le Mans Series round in Utah.

Turner said: “My aim will be to finish all three races at Croft, which is something I haven’t done yet this year, and I’ll be trying to finish each one of them on the podium. Jason did that last year in the Leon, so it’s certainly possible.”

It’s almost a decade since Turner raced at Croft, in a Formula Palmer Audi single-seater race. The year before that, 1997, he was knocked unconscious in a crash while testing a Formula 3 car.

But Turner, who has qualified on the front row of the grid in the last two BTCC fixtures, clearly holds no fear and added: “I’ve not raced at Croft since 1998, so I will have to quickly reacquaint myself with it.

“The track seems to suit the Leon, and as I’m going there with no ballast I’m hopeful of qualifying really well.

“I’ve done OK in qualifying so far this year and now I’ve sorted out my starts I’m not too worried about that either.”

Turner currently lies sixth in the BTCC standings – three podium finishes at Croft could, potentially, lift him as high as third if the drivers directly ahead of him, Tom Chilton, Matt Neal and Colin Turkington hit problems.