Ginetta GT4 SuperCup - Career High Triple Podium for Will Burns at Thruxton

Will Burns continued his challenge for this season’s Ginetta GT4 SuperCup title with a career high triple podium at the third weekend of the season at Thruxton in Hampshire last weekend.

The Weston-super-Mare racer headed into the weekend fresh from podiums last time out at Donington Park. But visiting the fastest circuit on the calendar is a completely different challenge, and Burns was optimistic of his chances.

Following the weekend’s pre-event test at Thruxton, which unlike other rounds took place a month prior to the race weekend, Burns had targeted top five finishes. But the pace of his HHC Motorsport-prepared Ginetta G55 GT4 machine was electric.

With the pre-event test day having already taken place, it meant Burns and the rest of the field’s first time on track was in the all-important qualifying session. Will sadly wasn’t able to hook up the perfect lap, being held up in traffic. It left him fourth on the grid – though a post-session penalty for a rival in front promoted him to a third-place start.

Will went on to maintain his third place start throughout the opening 12-lap race, with some strong pace at the end of the race seeing him close to within 0.7 seconds of second place, which bode well for for the longer 16-lap races two and three.

Starting third on the grid for race two, Burns, with two new tyres on his car, made a good start and managed to pass team-mate Jamie Orton and maintain the same pace as leader Carl Breeze to the chequered flag for his second podium finish of the weekend.

Sunday’s final race of the weekend, live on ITV4, was Burns’ best of the season. Making the best start of his year so far, he leapfrogged his rivals from the second row of the grid to take the race lead.

Pulling a gap to the chasing pack, sadly a safety car prevented Will taking advantage of the scrap between his rivals behind. When the race resumed, Will was forced to perform an outstanding display of driving to ensure his rival, Michael Caine, who had fitted a new rear tyre, stayed behind him.

On the final lap, Caine’s car had better traction into the first corner, enabling him to take the lead and forcing Will to settle for second place.

A hat trick of podium finishes far exceeds what Will was expecting from the weekend, and leaves him third in the standings, only four points behind Orton.

“Wow, what a weekend!” enthuses Will. “I headed to Thruxton relatively realistic, hoping for some top five finishes to keep me well and truly in the title race. But it’s turned out to be my best weekend of my GT4 SuperCup career!

“The time between races one and two was so close. The team therefore didn’t want either of the three cars to be damaged. I was therefore banking points in the shorter race one, so to take a podium was a definite bonus.

“For the second race, we fitted two new tyres to the left-hand side of my car. I decided to play my hand. I stuck to the pre-race plan, chasing my team-mate Jamie in front of me before passing him.

“I was keeping up with my other team-mate, Carl Breeze in the lead. His car also had two new tyres like me, so sticking to the same pace as him increased my confidence into the final race.

“In race three, I made the best start of my season so far. I used the momentum to get past Michael Caine but the safety car prevented me from pulling away a two-second gap which would have been enough for Michael to focus on defending his place rather than attacking my lead.

“With Michael’s new rear left tyre fitted, it was always then going to be tough to defend from him. He just got better traction into the first corner on the final lap, and my tyres had already gone through their heat cycle.

“But this was the best weekend I’ve had. I know that I can win a race, it fills me with confidence that I can fight with the title contenders. I’m only four points behind Jamie in second in the standings, and I’m ready to take my first win at the next round at Oulton Park.

“I’d finally like to thank my new sponsor, Eurocams Ltd, for coming on-board and for their partnership for the remainder of the season. I’m looking forward to a successful season with them.”