Darren Turner taking Dan Wheldon's seat at Gold Coast 600

[Livininthinair]

Just a quick topic unless everyone does not know, Darren will be taking Dan's seat this weekend for the Gold Coast 600.

“It’s a really strange feeling,” he told SPEED.com. “I still feel lost with it all. It’s still a massive shock for everyone in America in the IndyCar Series and back in the UK. He was obviously very highly regarded within our family of motor racing back home. I didn’t get to see the race, but followed the news as it was breaking and it’s devastating for everyone. Then I had a phone call Monday at lunch time to ask if I was available, and I said I had to ask permission of Aston Martin Racing if I could come out. Aston Martin said it wasn’t a problem, so it all happened very quickly.”

As one of the more colorful personalities in sports car racing, Turner’s muted, stoic demeanor on Wednesday at Queensland Raceway—the site of the lone pre-race test for guest drivers like Turner to sample a V8 Supercar ahead of this weekend’s race meeting—spoke volumes. ----

It wasn’t until I got on the plane from the UK where it started to hit me, and I started to feel the enormity of it all,” he continued. “It’s a big task to even try and fill his shoes. I’ll be racing with him very much in mind. I just hope I can do a job like Dan would have done—if I can do something that can make him proud, then that’s all I can try to do this weekend. The race is going on and Dan would have been here fighting for the win, so somebody needs to be here to continue the fight for him.”


(Quotes from Marshall Pruett, Speed.com)


Darren is always a great guy and personality - everyone cheer really hard for the No. 1 Toll HRT Holden Commodore this weekend.

[Juarez Jed]

I am sure he will be made to feel most welcome by the fans, not to mention his co-driver James Courtney and the rest of the team. But you won't find Ford fans cheering TOO hard for the red machine.

[fomoco]

http://www.speedcafe.com/2011/10/20/...-1-hrt-window/


Dont need to be a Ford or Holden man, just remeber Dan,

[Livininthinair]

Thanks for the link fomoco - I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on. Darren Turner has always been a favorite driver of mine and I think what he and the team is doing is the best tribute anyone could ask for (especially because Dan was not actually a member of the team just a guest for this race) - lets hope Darren and James have a good race.
I'm not a huge Indy fan (liked Champcar better) but am a sportscar/endurance fan at heart, it is great to see the world wide motorsports family showing such support to each other...

[Minicross424]

Best of luck to Darren, hes a hard charger and lets not forget he can pedal a stockcar too!
He raced a Ascar ( uk version of NASCAR)