Will Burns, made his return to the Miller Oils Ginetta GT4 Supercup at Brands Hatch, some 918 days after his last outing in the championship, with a convincing win in race 3.
After pre-season testing and setting the second fastest time of the day, at the official Media launch, both Burns and his team, Rob Boston Racing, were in a positive mood.
Carrying his pace into the first qualifying session, Burns made the front row of the grid, missing out on pole by just 0.070s, to Elite Motorsport’s Harry King. In the run up to race one, the weather started to change, a fine rain started coming down, causing the drivers to look at their tyre choice. Burns, like all but one of the pro drivers, elected for slicks, a choice that would ultimately see his race over, after parking in the gravel at Clearways.
“It was a really tricky decision for race one. My gut feeling was wet tyres, but the other Pro drivers went slicks and we were pushed to what they were doing. Ultimately it was a lottery, we didn’t win, and unfortunately it put us on the backfoot for the next two races.” said Burns.
Race 2 was much improved with the right tyres on, but it was always going to be a struggle starting towards the back on the Pro grid, in seventh place. That said, Burns had good race, making up 2 places and crossing the line fifth, grabbing some valuable championship points too.
Race 3 saw a change of fortunes, after being awarded pole in the reverse grid draw. Burns made it away cleanly, leading the chasing pack into the first bend. He then began to stretch his lead to over two seconds, when the safety car was deployed. After the restart, he got away cleanly again and there he stayed coming home 2 second clear of King in second place.
Burns had this to say: “We headed into the new season feeling confident that we had the pace to be challenging for silverware across the opening meeting, so I’m really pleased that after a bit of a rollercoaster weekend, it all came together for us in race three.
“I was pleased to take a top five finish and the points that came with it in race two, and then to get the reversed grid pole was a welcome bonus. The Rob Boston Racing car was fantastic in the final race and I was able to keep my head down, go into qualifying mode and pound in the laps.
“To return to the championship and win first time out is a great feeling, while getting fastest lap too shows the pace that we have. We’re confident that we can be fighting for podium finishes again at Donington Park next, a circuit we’ve been quick at in pre-season testing.”
