Darren Turner race report

CRUEL LUCK TOPPLES TURNER IN FINAL HOUR

Darren Turner's dream of being the top LMP1 petrol finisher in the Le Mans 24 Hours went up quite literally in a puff of smoke today. After a typically determined effort from Darren, his team-mates Sam Hancock and Juan Barazi, and the whole Aston Martin Racing team, the 009 car retired with less than an hour of the race remaining with an engine problem.

The large performance gap between the diesel and petrol cars has created a split class in LMP1 so Darren's target was to make 009 the top petrol car after 24 hours. The car ran faultlessly throughout the race and the 009 crew were set to finish in fourth place overall, just behind the 1-2-3 finishing Audis, and in top spot for the petrol runners, so it was cruel luck to have a problem in the 24th hour. Sam Hancock was at the wheel of 009 when, with just 55 minutes to go, smoke appeared from the back of the car as he braked for the Mulsanne Corner.

"It's difficult to accept when things like that happen in the last hour of a 24-hour race but what can you do?" said Darren. "Until that point the car ran like clockwork and the team made sure every pit stop was perfect. I really enjoyed the race. It was great to get back in the LMP1 car and I think I was in it for over ten hours. When you consider that before this week I had only done about 100kms in the car since last September you can see that we had a lot of acclimatisation to do. We didn't get the result we wanted but I did get fastest petrol lap so at least that's something to smile about."

-source: darren turner