Will Burns has stormed into the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup championship lead, with his best ever weekend in the series seeing him take two victories and a third place finish around the fastest circuit in the UK, Thruxton (17/18 August). The Weston-Super-Mare racer’s fourth and fifth victories of the campaign has secured him a 13 point advantage with three meetings to go, while his weekend success has moved him up to second in the all-time list for GT4 SuperCup podium finishes. As one of only three drivers on the grid to have raced at Thruxton the last time the championship visited the Hampshire venue in 2015, Burns was in a confident mood as he kicked off the second half of the season in his Rob Boston Racing Ginetta G55 GT4. Strong pace in free practice on Friday saw him finish fastest in dry conditions and second in the wet, with that speed being carried across into qualifying on Saturday. A superb effort of 1m 15.355s put him in the top two for the third time in five sessions this year. Holding second at the start of the opening race that afternoon, Burns went on to enjoy a race long pursuit of leader Harry King. Posting the fastest lap of the race along the way, a great run out of the chicane heading onto the last lap saw him draw alongside his title rival. As they headed towards the complex for the final time, wheel-to-wheel contact from King led to a puncture for him. That opened the door for Burns to cruise to the chequered flag for the win, which in turn secured him pole position for the first of Sunday’s two races. In front of a large trackside crowd, the Somerset racer got a quick launch off the line and led the field into an early safety car period. A strong restart saw him maintain his advantage and a controlled performance from there secured him an impressive lights-to-flag victory. The reverse grid draw put Burns sixth on the grid in his Cases Ltd, Eurocams and Absolute Plastering Services supported machine for the final race of the weekend. In front of the live ITV4 television cameras, it proved to be an action-packed affair. The 29 year old found himself in the middle of a thrilling multi-car battle over the final podium place. With positions changing almost every lap, Burns kept out of trouble and pulled off some slick overtaking moves to get third and his 41st podium finish in the championship. Moving into the points lead for the first time in his GT4 SuperCup career, Burns will be aiming to extend his advantage next time out at Knockhill in Scotland (14/15 September) – a circuit he took three podiums at on his last visit in the championship in 2016. Will Burns: “I’m over the moon with the weekend. We really couldn’t have asked for much more from it. Second in qualifying, two race wins, three podiums, a fastest lap and the championship lead – I can’t complain too much about that! “It’s a circuit I like and it felt great to be back out there in a Ginetta. Friday went well for us and second in qualifying was a good platform for the opening race. I felt I was quicker than Harry [King] for large parts of the race and I’m delighted to have made the move on the last lap. “The Rob Boston Racing Ginetta G55 was spot on all weekend and I could properly show that in race two. I was able to push hard, build the gap and control the race. It was a confidence boosting win and meant we headed into race three not chasing a big result. “It got a bit feisty out there in race three, so I focused on keeping my head and not getting caught up in any drama, so coming home third was great. It capped off a brilliant weekend and now I head to another circuit I like, Knockhill, feeling really good.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.