Darren Turner Paul Ricard test summary

FIRST TEST A TREAT FOR TURNER

Darren Turner declared himself happy with progress yesterday after completing the first test in the car he will race at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours: the Aston Martin LMP1 car. As the Aston Martin Racing team prepares for an assault on the Le Mans Series and the big race itself, Darren, and his team-mates debuted the two new cars at the Paul Ricard circuit on Sunday.

"I'm really pleased with the work we did at Ricard," said Darren. "The car was very strong straight out of the box and we were able to do some solid running over the last two days to get up to speed. It's certainly a lot quicker than the DBR9 - much more than I expected - so it took a few laps to get used to that. My team-mates, Harold (Primat) and Miguel (Ramos), did the same as me and spent time learning the car, which ran like clockwork over the two days. We now have a good understanding of where we are with it and what we need to do before the first race in Barcelona."

This was the first time Darren had driven an LMP1 car since he drove the Audi R8 in 2004.

"It's great to be back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin," he said. "That was my first proper go in an LMP1 car; it was an exciting experience and I can't wait to get the season underway now. I should mention that the Aston Martin Racing guys have worked round-the-clock to prepare everything in time for this test so I was pleased for them that the cars didn't miss a beat."

The first race of the 2009 Le Mans Series takes place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on 5 April.

-credit: dt