Darren Turner, one of Britain’s most successful sportscar drivers, will embark on an extraordinary 20thseason as a works Aston Martin Racing driver next year, having re-signed to the ultra-luxury sportscar brand for 2024 on a new multi-year agreement.
It’s the perfect Christmas treat for Turner as the deal neatly wraps up another glorious season which produced his latest blue riband GT class victory, in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, to add to an outstanding trophy collection few could hope to match in endurance racing.
Over the past two decades Turner has played a vital role in the successful development of every Aston Martin sportscar that has raced since the brand returned to frontline competition in 2005. From the glorious DBR9, through the Vantage V8, V8/V12 Vantage GTs, as well as the LMP1 prototypes, and most recently the twin-turbo charged V8 Vantage GT Turner has tested and triumphed to the limit in almost all of them.
The former DTM racer and Formula 1 tester switched to endurance racing with Ferrari in 2003, and joined the driving strength of Aston Martin Lagonda a year later.
As the longest-serving racing driver in Aston Martin’s history, Turner has since won races in every single GT derivative to have emerged from the AMR factory in Banbury over the last 19 seasons. That included its first – the mighty 6-litre V12-powered DBR9 – which Darren took to victory on the car’s race debut, in the GT1 class of the Sebring 12 Hours, alongside David Brabham and Stéphane Ortelli.
The DBR9 would also propel Turner to his first two class victories in the world famous Le Mans 24 Hours (again alongside Brabham) in 2007 and 2008. Over the years, the French venue etched itself into the very fabric of Darren’s career, as he added another four podiums and a famous last-gasp victory alongside Jonny Adam and Daniel Serra in 2017 with the V8 Vantage GTE. That win cemented him as the most successful Aston Martin Le Mans driver of all time. Indeed, in his 17 starts in arguably world motorsport’s toughest test of endurance, Turner has stood on the podium more than 40% of the time!
Aside from all this, Turner has often been at the tip of the spear for AMR’s FIA World Endurance Championship campaigns, and along with his team-mates helped Aston Martin to no less than four teams and manufacturers’ titles. Turner was also crowned the 2016 European Le Mans Series champion, and in recent years has added back-to-back British GT class titles to his tally with the Vantage GT4.
An enduring champion, Turner has lost none of his speed but added experience and wisdom – a key asset he has used while contesting the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with the Heart of Racing for the past four years. It was only fitting that he should be part of the four-man crew that finally gave Aston Martin its first victory in US endurance motorsport’s most important race on the Vantage GT3’s final appearance in its current specification in January this year.
Turner also spent much of his racing time in 2023 at the Nürburgring Nordscheife (another venue he holds dear), competing with Dörr Motorsport and their Pirelli tyre development programme. A three-time Nürburgring 24 Hours class winner, the Briton would dearly love to add a fourth in 2024.
Aston Martin will move into a new era with the fifth evolution of the Vantage next season. Based on the multiple championship-winning front-engined platform that has been in service for the past six years, the new version is likely to be another quantum step forward in competitiveness, and as ever Turner has been at the heart of its development.
Dovetailing his racing commitments, Turner has worked closely with Aston Martin Performance Technologies to develop the Valkyrie AMR Pro hypercar, among other programmes, as part of his role as the brand’s High Performance Development Driver.
As Aston Martin moves into next chapter of racing, with new GT3, GT4 and GTD programmes, and of course the exciting Valkyrie Hypercar, Turner’s speed and experience remains as essential as it was when the DBR9 screamed into life all those years ago.
“I could never have imagined when I was racing DBR9, that I would still be fighting for wins with Aston Martin this season,” said Darren. “But for me it’s as much of an honour to be asked to represent the brand as it was in the early days, and to be honest it all feels just as fresh and exciting. To be able to play a key role in all those amazing racing cars, and to be able to look forward to doing it all again with the next generation of Vantage, is a great privilege and one I hold close to me. To be honest, I just can’t wait to go racing again in 2024.
“But before all this, I would like to thank all my friends and partners for another fantastic season of racing and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”
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