Rookie Will Burns says he has worked hard to prepare himself for the switch to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with Team HARD in 2017.
Second in last year’s BTCC-supporting Ginetta GT4 Supercup with three wins and 17 podiums finishes, Burns will take the wheel of one of a trio of Volkswagen CC machines for Team HARD’s 2017 assault.
Burns will also be one of the BTCC’s newest faces on the grid, pinpointing the Jack Sears Trophy as his main focal point of interest.
“I’m absolutely over the moon to actually find a seat in BTCC because it’s been a fight over the last few seats at the moment”, Burns told The Checkered Flag at Birmingham’s NEC Arena during the opening day of the Autosport International Show.
“I’m pleased to be with Team HARD in a Passat and I hope I can really go for the Jack Sears Trophy.”
With sights set on honours for top rookie in 2017, Burns will be thrust into a duel with familiar names from his days on the TOCA support package, including former Ginetta sparring partner, Luke Davenport.
“There’s a lot of competition for that, but I’m raring to go,” Burns said of his Jack Sears Trophy ambitions.
“Being a rookie, it’s going to be quite hard going up against those that have been doing this year in, year out, so it would be sensible to aim at those that also haven’t raced in touring cars before.
“It’s definitely going to be competitive against the likes of Ant Whorton-Eales and Luke Davenport who are obviously very quick – Davenport was seriously quick in our Ginetta days – and we’ve also got Senna Proctor in there as well so it should be a nice battle.”
Burns has yet to get behind the wheel of the Volkswagen CC, but has already sampled the front-wheel drive Toyota Avensis previously used by Tony Gilham‘s HARD squad to complement his switch from the rear-wheel drive Ginetta G55.
“I’ve just been learning the FWD mentality in the old Toyota Avensis,” Burns added on his early testing experience.
“I should get into the swing of pre-season testing [with the VW] in February and then media day. FWD and RWD is completely different and I’ve managed to find that out already. It should be a good season.”