Turner wins GT1 at Le Mans

Darren Turner won the GT1 class for the second year in a row at the infamous Le Mans 24 hour race in France last weekend. Turner switched his SEAT Leon TDI for the Aston Martin DBR9 with Gulf livery sharing with David Brabham and Antonio Garcia to take win after a heated battle with the Chevrolet team.

Turner proved his race craft during the night hours when he ran for 4 stints managing to negotiate both wet and dry conditions to take the lead. Brabham raced last holding the lead which at the end was less than lap.

“It was an amazing race again,” said Darren afterwards. “It seemed very much like last year with heavy rain coming towards the end and with Brabs being in the car. The tension was building in the pits, just willing the last hour to go away and get the car across the line. It’s a fantastic feeling and it was even better on the podium this year, with the national anthem playing and more people cheering us, and the party afterwards with Aston Martin was just fantastic.

“As for the race itself, there were tricky conditions for everyone out there and I think every driver in the end had to deal with the rain which made it quite difficult. Antonio had a great stint during the evening, and in the night and with the rain, he had to deal with the darkness as well. We all had good stints during the race and at some stage we were all able to eke out a small advantage over the #63 Corvette [which finished second]. We were able to consolidate that each time the next driver went out and keep building it up during the race.

“Last year it felt very much that we had to win this race because it had been three years and there was plenty of mileage on the car. Everyone was very focused on that and we had to prove ourselves. This year, because of the fact that it had been a whole year since the team had raced – Le Mans 2007 was the last time we’d all raced as a team – it was both more and less important. The driver line up was a bit more mixed than it had been in previous years. Heinz-Harald [Frentzen] had not done a race for a year, and certainly not been in a sportscar for a long time. I haven’t raced a sportscar since Daytona at the end of January and Brabs has been racing prototypes all season so everyone was having to learn as the week went on. That was a bit the same for the team as well. They started off at the beginning of the week nice and slow with the pit stops, but by the end of the week and the race everyone was back to full speed in the car and out of it.

“It’s incredible to think it’s our only race of the year and we won it. Just like last year. We were asked a lot about whether it’s a disadvantage not running a championship like Corvette. It is a disadvantage because it’s obviously better to be out racing, learning the car and all feeling exactly as one, but somehow we’ve still managed to win the big one.

“We had such a trouble free run. The only small worry was after the end of my last pit stop the car coughed and spluttered a little bit trying to start so, when I came in to change over to Brabham, which was to go until the chequered flag, the guys were all ready with alternator belts, alternators, batteries, all the electrical things that might be needed were in the pit lane ready. They made sure I was in neutral in the pit lane so they could do a quick check, and luckily Brabs just got in the car and off he went so no worries. That was the only scare, and it wasn’t actually a technical problem, but we had it all well in hand and just got on with it. Luckily it didn’t cause a problem.

“My focus now switches back to the British Touring Car Championship with SEAT Sport UK and our next race is not until 13th July so I’ve got plenty of recovery time to catch up on some sleep!”