Turner: I've got a good feeling.

by Russell Atkins

Darren Turner says he has a good feeling about 2007, as he bids to celebrate his first full campaign on home soil in almost ten years with a title triumph.

The Berkshire-born ace has spent the past seven years at the pinnacle of world sportscar racing - winning in virtually every category he has contested - but this season he has returned to his roots by signing up to compete for SEAT in the British Touring Car Championship, behind the wheel of one of the Spanish marque's two striking new Leons. It is an opportunity - to say nothing of challenge - he is clearly relishing.

"1998 was the last time I did a full championship in Britain in Formula Palmer Audi," he told Crash.net. "Since then I've done a few races, but always as part of either a European or international series. Last season it was great to be racing back on British circuits again, but there are a few tracks I didn't do. It's been a long time for example since I raced at Croft, and it will be good to go back there again."

The 32-year-old has already been getting in some pre-season practice with a successful appearance in the renowned Sebring 12 Hours earlier this month, finishing third in class at the wheel of a Team Modena-run Aston Martin DBR9. It certainly helped him get back into the racing groove, he stresses.

"Sebring is one of my favourite events," he revealed. "The circuit is very challenging and it's always a good race. It was good to get a race under my belt this early in the year. Not many of the BTCC guys have done that, and it helps blow away the cobwebs.

"Straight after this weekend I'll be going away to Paul Ricard to do a 30-hour test programme in preparation for Le Mans. They are pushing as hard as possible. With Corvette having won the class there for the past two years, Aston Martin is very keen to make sure this year is third time lucky."

Turner raced full-time for Aston Martin last year, with a handful of appearances for SEAT in the BTCC thrown in along the way. Although he stunned onlookers by finishing third on his debut at Thruxton and ultimately notched up 41 points from eight finishes, the stop-start nature of his campaign did not make for an easy transition.

"That was probably the most difficult thing," he explained. "The Aston is rear wheel-drive and has at least twice the power of the Leon. There's a lot more aerodynamic grip available too, and because of that the driving styles are very different.

"The BTCC car is a lot of fun, has a reasonable amount of power - pretty good for a two-litre engine - and you can really throw it around, but I was having to learn a lot from Jason (Plato) because it was front wheel-drive and a new discipline to me. I was also surprised by how much contact was going on out there. This year I feel a lot more confident in what I'm doing and what makes the car work well."

Though the true pecking order won't be fully evident until the flag drops at Brands Hatch on Sunday, Turner is confident SEAT will once again be right at the sharp end of proceedings, and capable not only of defending its hard-won manufacturers' crown from last year, but also of adding the drivers' laurels too.

"We've had an intense testing programme over the winter and it's gone well," he stated. "We've run the car at a few circuits and at the last test Jason and I had a car each. On the media day at Rockingham we didn't get the best out of the car, but the Estoril test was very positive; we came away from there with a better understanding of it.

"The driving relationship will probably change a little bit, though, because last year both myself and James Thompson were there to help SEAT win the manufacturers' title and help Jason as much as we could in the drivers' championship. This year we are both free to go for the championship, and I think we will have a close fight."

Looking around at what he considers to be the key opposition SEAT will face in 2007, the former BRDC Autosport McLaren Young Driver of the Year acknowledged the rivalry would be fierce, and not merely from the manufacturer-backed teams.

"Vauxhall have a new car," he added, "but in testing on the media day their pace was fantastic straightaway. Team Dynamics have only been out on track in the last ten days with their new Civic, but they know how to get the best out of a car; they've done it before. I don't really see them being too far off the pace at the first round and they will only get stronger.

"West Surrey Racing have not only a proven race-winner but indeed a championship-winner in the BMW. They may not be used to rear wheel-drive after last year, but a car is a car and they will get to grips with it very quickly.

"I would say the main competition will come from those three teams, but also on the privateer front Dave Pinkney has a good car in the Alfa, Mike Jordan's Honda Integra is a race-winning car and then there's Mat Jackson in the BMW too. I think there's going to be some strong competition, and not just from the manufacturer entries."

Be that as it may, Turner remains confident of a strong challenge from the word go, particularly given SEAT's domination of the opening meeting in 2006 and the Leon's impressive showing at Brands Hatch later in the year, with Plato narrowly pipping him to the pole in the dying moments of qualifying and locking out an all-yellow front row. A repeat performance, with the positions perhaps reversed, would be just the ticket.

"It's good to be doing the full championship," he enthused. "I'm looking forward to that and it's just a case now of getting on with it.

"My main priority will be to collect as many points as possible. I've got a good feeling about it."