Q&A: Darren Turner - EXCLUSIVE.

by Russell Atkins

TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN FULL: CLICK HERE

In June, Darren Turner will return to the scene of one of the greatest triumphs of his career when he and Aston Martin Racing bid to defend their hard-fought GT1 class success in the legendary, round-the-clock Le Mans 24 Hours.

In company with team-mates David Brabham and Antonio Garcia, the British Touring Car Championship regular will be behind the wheel of the specially-liveried #009 DBR9, bedecked out in the iconic colours of Gulf Oil. The recently-turned 34-year-old told Crash.net Radio what kind of challenges he predicts lie in-store...

Q:
Darren, you're an Aston Martin Racing factory driver again in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2008, and won the race in the GT1 class for AMR last year. How are you looking forward to it again?

Darren Turner:
For me personally, being still involved with the team - and this is the fourth year that we've been to Le Mans - means it's a great opportunity to come back and try and win the race again. I'm really looking forward to being alongside Brabham again, because obviously we shared that win last year, and I've driven with Antonio a few times now for Team Modena; they're both really good and we should have a good opportunity down there. It's always such a special race for me, but an even bigger positive is that with the Gulf Oil livery on the car, you can't get two more iconic Le Mans brands. To have them together is going to make it a pretty unique event for me.

Q:
You talk about the paint job. The car looks very similar and the number is the same, but the livery is quite striking, isn't it?

DT:
Yeah; the car has obviously been the Racing Green for three years, and if it was still the same it would still look as great as ever, but the fact is we've got the new livery and the blue-and-orange is very famous at Le Mans. I don't think there's a driver out there who hasn't watched Steve McQueen in 'Le Mans', but as a kid you'd never expect to be driving a car with that sort of sponsorship. It's very special for all six of us that we're involved with it, and hopefully we can get the same success that we had last year.

Q:
People within the sport often say 'if it looks quick, it goes quick'. Is that the case with this car too?

DT:
Yeah, it always goes quick! The thing is that Corvette have always had a very good, strong package and have been very hard to beat, but last year we were finally able to pull it all together and get the car to the end. We've always had very good pace, but we were a bit unlucky in 2005 and 2006. It's a beautiful car - very striking - and one thing when you speak to the guys who go down there and watch the race is that they appreciate the noise of the car, the screaming V12. If you're out by the circuit and listening to it coming down through the woods towards Indianapolis and Arnage, it's a great noise, and it's a great-looking car. It's a privilege for me and I think for the other guys too to be racing that car, because in 20 or 30 years time I think it will be a classic car from a classic racing era.

Q:
You mentioned your team-mates 'Brabs' and Garcia. Brabs like yourself is very experienced, whereas Antonio is more of a young gun compared to the two of you. Is that a nice mix to have?

DT:
Garcia is a really experienced racer too, more so than I'll ever be. He's done karting at world level and a lot of the single-seater championships at a high level as well. He's been driving with Team Modena for many years now and done Le Mans twice, and when I've driven alongside him at Team Modena, he's just what you need from a sportscar driver - fast and makes no mistakes. I think he's just another part of our team that is required, and he's a good part; he's got the speed that is going to keep me and Brabham on our toes, and he's such a nice guy too.

That's the thing really - the key to three guys working together over the course of a Le Mans weekend means you want the best from each of your team-mates, and the fact that we all like each other and get on really well means we are always pushing each other in a good way. You want them to do well because it's going to reflect well on your overall result, and I think the package that we've got this year between the three of us is very good.

Q:
You spoke about the Corvettes before - do you see them as being your main rivals again this year, or do you think anyone else will be able to get in on the GT1 mix too?

DT:
Corvette are always going to be the main rivals - it's a great battle that's been going on many years, and it sort of tos-and-fros from either side. I think realistically they are going to be the main team out there to try and beat, and certainly from last year to this year they will have done a lot of development over the winter.

The difference is obviously that we won at Le Mans last year and as a team we haven't raced the car since. It's all-or-nothing, a one-race championship for us, whereas they've been doing the American Le Mans Series so they're very race-fresh. We've got to get back up-to-speed for the race weekend and make sure we're firing on all twelve cylinders, and that's not just from the drivers' point-of-view but also the engineers, the mechanics, the tyre guys - all these guys have to get back into the groove when we get down to Le Mans.

Q:
Having won the race in class last year, do you feel more pressure in 2008 going in as the defending champions, compared to the underdogs which AMR has been for the past few years..?

DT:
I think yes, the truth is that is the case. Beforehand it's always been us trying to chase Corvette down and take their crown, and now we've got it and the benchmark is us. It's up to Corvette to raise their game and find the speed, and without a doubt they have. They proved very fast in the LMS championship last weekend in Monza, and I'm sure the works team is very fast as well. It's a different approach this year, and it should be quite interesting.

Q:
Not only did you win the GT1 class last year, but you also finished a superb fifth overall. How tough is it going to be to repeat that in June?

DT:
Very; the competition in GT1 is very strong. It's very much like the front end of LMP1 - they're the two most competitive classes at Le Mans, and it's going to be very hard. We've got to really be on the button from the word 'go'. Look at last year's result - car 009 had the least amount of time in the pits of any of the starters, none of the drivers made a mistake on the circuit and we all did quick lap times all the way through the race, and we still only won by three minutes. If we make one single mistake then it's going to be a problem.

TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN FULL: CLICK HERE