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Aston taking nothing for granted

Darren Turner says there will be no complacency at Aston Martin Racing as the teams bid to wrap up the Le Mans Series title in the AUTOSPORT 1000km at Silverstone this weekend

Turner's team-mates Tomas Enge, Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz in the #007 car hold a seven point lead over Pescarolo's Jean-Christophe Boullion and Christophe Tinseau going into the series finale. The championship battle had looked like it would be significantly closer until Aston claimed a one-two-three in the last round at the Nurburgring, where the Pescarolo dropped out early with gearbox problems.

But Turner says Aston is well aware that it could still lose the title if anything goes wrong at its home race.

"Although the #007 crew are clear favourites for the championship, everything is still to play for," Turner wrote in his exclusive AUTOSPORT column.

"The #007 Aston crew went into the last round at the Nurburgring with a three point deficit in the championship, but with Pescarolo having the problems that they had in Germany, now it's turned round to a seven point advantage.

"So obviously it's very much in #007's hands now, but saying that, we could have a bad weekend like Pescarolo just did, so it's still going to need a big push to make sure the cars run reliably."

With the #007 car only needing a sixth place to secure the title, Turner admitted it was possible that him and team-mate Harold Primat in the #009 could go for their first win of the season in the AUTOSPORT 1000km if Enge, Charouz and Mucke focused on collecting the necessary points. But he said tactics would only be discussed once Aston had seen how it compared to its rivals in today's two practice sessions.

"If the #007 isn't in a position to win, then Harold Primat and I in the #009 need to make sure we get maximum points and take away any possibility of Pescarolo scoring 10 points," Turner wrote. "We'll find out the game plan in the team meeting on Friday after seeing where we are on pace."

* The Aston Martin Racing drivers will be signing autographs at the AUTOSPORT stand - which features a Lola T70 on display - at the entrance to the paddock on Saturday at 1130. David Brabham will also be paying a visit to meet the crowds at 1430 on Saturday.

AUTOSPORT.com competition winner Martin Evans will be the starter for the AUTOSPORT 1000km when it gets underway on Sunday morning.

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