First impressions can be so important, or so they say. It's a good thing then that British sportscar champion Darren Turner's first racing laps in Aston Martin's new Vantage GT3 were victorious ones, when he stepped back into the GT Cup at Silverstone last weekend.
In fact, Turner brought home the gold twice in two days, as he sampled the British ultraluxury sportscar brand's latest contender in racing conditions for the first time.
Having been called up by Beechdean AMR for this weekend's four-race event at the Northamptonshire circuit, and paired with team owner Andrew Howard, Turner rekindled a partnership that goes back nearly a decade. The duo duly won their class on each of the four races, having started from pole each time, with Turner joining Howard for the feature races. Turner also recorded the two fastest laps of the meeting for GT3 class cars.
"Winning on my maiden race in the new Vantage GT3, made for the perfect weekend! I've been lucky enough to play a role in every great Aston Martin endurance racing car for the past 20 years, and it's always nice to win in them." said Turner. "It was great to have the opportunity, and it's always fun to race alongside Andrew. I think we both made the most of it!"
Turner, of course, has done plenty of laps in the new Vantage GT3, both in his role as Aston Martin High Performance Test Driver and as the brand's longest-serving and most successful active works driver. Howard is also no stranger to the Vantage GT3, which he races in the British GT Championship [BGT] alongside Jessica Hawkins. But last weekend's one-off return to the GT Cup for Beechdean AMR represented Howard's first competitive laps in any car since Round 4 of BGT at Donington Park, back in May. The Silverstone weekend was therefore vital preparation ahead of Round 8 of the BGT in September.
"Andrew hasn't had a lot of seat time recently, and he was taken off at the first corner in the recent BGT round at Spa," said Turner. "So this was a great chance to find a groove, go racing with no pressure and enjoy winning – sometimes that's important. And we did a lot of it!"
Having had the car to himself to dial in through Friday's unofficial practice, Turner did one installation lap on Saturday before handing the car over to Howard to qualify. The multiple British and European Le Mans Series champion duly delivered the GT3 class pole.
GT Cup runs a little differently to other contemporary GT series, and hosts multiple classes with cars running varied levels of boost and aerodynamic performance, which can mix up the grids and see drivers racing out of their natural position because of the pace of their machinery.
In the opening Sprint race, Howard had a minor off on the first lap, which sent him tumbling down the order. He immediately set about racing back through and recovered his position at the top of the class with some fearsome passing.
"Andrew did a really good job," explained Turner. "Because of the nature of the GTO class, there is a deficit in straight-line speed. So, running in GT3 we weren't the fastest cars on the straight by a long way. He had to pull off some proper full send moves to get past what were ultimately quicker cars. But Andrew's pace over a lap was much better and he had to fully commit to get past some of them."
In the feature race, things were more serene, and Howard handed the lead over to Turner, who set fastest lap en route to clinching the team's second win of the day.
"It was pretty much copy and paste on Sunday," added Turner. "This time I did the whole of free practice and Andrew did all of qualifying. The feature race was first on Sunday, followed by the sprint at the end of the day. We won both, and to be honest it was just a lovely experience to win at Silverstone with the Vantage GT3".
"Andrew also picked up driver of the day, so that was nice and well deserved."
Turner has driven with Beechdean AMR several times during his illustrious career, key among them his 2016 ELMS championship-winning campaign.
"The team is full of guys I have raced with for many years," said Turner. "I have also been working closely with the team this year, helping with the British GT programme and giving as much support to Jessica in her first year in the championship. They have been doing a fantastic job in the series so far."
Four wins from four, by any measure is a strong return for a weekend's racing, but the result also means that Howard and Turner became the first driver pairing to record back-to-back wins with the new Vantage GT3.
"It's always great fun to race with Andrew," said Turner. "But now the real focus returns to Beechdean AMR's campaign in the British GT Championship. Hopefully a nice positive weekend gives the team the momentum they need to finish the season on a high."
Darren's focus, aside from assisting Beechdean AMR, now returns to his Aston Martin High Performance Test driver duties; one of which is assisting in the development of the brands new 24 Hours of Le Mans contender – the Valkyrie AMR-LMH.