Top ten finish for Darren Turner and Gulf on Formula Ford Debut

Following on from last weeks article, winning Le Mans driver Darren Turner takes to the race circuit once more in a Gulf livered Formula Ford.

Top ten finish for Darren Turner and Gulf on Formula Ford Debut

Darren Turner (driver of the winning Gulf livered Aston Martin DBR9 at Le Mans this year), acquitted himself admirably by achieving a top ten finish in the Grand Final of the Walter Hayes Trophy meeting this weekend at Silverstone. This was despite never having driven the car before Saturday's qualifying session and having only five dry laps all weekend.

"It was a blast," said a delighted Darren afterwards. "Absolute Racing, who prepared the car, did a great job in really difficult conditions and we exceeded my original goal of reaching the semi-final. A huge thank you to Chris Hodgen, Joe and Andy of Absolute Racing and to Lee Chatburn, who bravely supplied his car for me to use this weekend. I'd also like to thank James Beckett who did a great job organising the whole weekend."

Turner arrived at Silverstone on Saturday morning directly from a three-day Michelin tyre test in Portugal so had to make his debut in the FF1600 in qualifying. The Gulf Oil liveried car - one of 124 Formula Fords entered for the 8th running of the Walter Hayes Trophy - was numbered 009, in symmetry with Darren's Gulf livered Le Mans winning Aston Martin.

He quickly got up to speed - despite having few laps in which to do so thanks to red flags and variable weather conditions. He qualified 8th in his group and easily progressed through to the semi final stage, despite very slippery and greasy track conditions. An 11th place in that race was more than enough to see him through to the Grand Final on Sunday afternoon.

"It was a bit of a baptism of fire," says DT, "but I had a great time. Going into it all with no testing was really difficult, but I got up to speed quickly enough. My goal was to get to the semis so to reach the final and get a top ten finish was more than I could have hoped for. The weather and track conditions were so bad there were people going off all over the place, so keeping it on the track was a result on its own!

"I'd really like to come back next year and do some testing before the weekend so we could be a bit more competitive. It's a bit strange starting a Formula Ford race after being in other areas of racing for so many years, but it was loads of fun. I can't wait to do it again."