Will Burns is on the verge of championship glory in the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup after scoring a win and a second place finish in the penultimate meeting of the season at Snetterton this weekend (24/25 October). Heading to Norfolk off the back of his best ever weekend in the championship two weeks’ prior at Croft, Burns was in a confident mood as he prepared to tackle the technical 2.97 mile circuit in his Rob Boston Racing prepared Ginetta G55 GT4. After some productive running in both wet and dry conditions in free practice on Friday, the Weston Super Mare racer got the weekend off to a perfect start the next morning, with a blistering lap late in qualifying securing him a third pole position of the season so far. Burns took full advantage in the opening race on Saturday afternoon, with a supreme drive seeing him lead from start-to-finish for the race win. The success was made more impressive by the fact a mechanical issue with the car was hampering his pace throughout. Overnight rain meant Burns was greeted by wet, greasy conditions for Sunday’s opening race. Leading away from pole position, it soon became apparent his choice of intermediate tyres wasn’t favourable in the early stages and he lost the lead on lap two. As conditions improved his tyre choice paid off and he posted the fastest lap of the race as he hunted down the leader. Over four seconds behind at one stage, he closed the gap to less than a second but just ran out of time to make a challenge before the chequered flag fell. The reverse grid draw for race three put the Cases Ltd, Eurocams and Absolute Plastering Services backed racer fifth on the grid. In front of the live ITV4 television cameras, Burns started strongly before disaster struck when another driver tagged him into a spin. Fortunately able to get off the wet grass and back onto the track, he immediately set about mounting a fightback drive from the rear of the field. Aided by a short safety car period bunching up the field, a tremendous performance saw him climb through the order to fifth overall. The weekend’s results mean the 30 year old heads into the season finale at Brands Hatch (14/15 November) with a 43 point advantage at the top of the standings. With dropped scores taken into consideration, he’ll need just one race finish in Kent to secure the title. Will Burns: “After taking the championship lead at Croft, this weekend was all about strengthening our lead at the top of the standings and we did exactly that. Rob Boston Racing did an exceptional job and we’re in a good position heading into the season finale. “Friday practice showed us that we had great pace in the car across both dry and wet conditions, which was perfect for the weekend ahead. Qualifying hasn’t always been my strong point in this championship, so I’m delighted to have got another pole position. “Scoring the race win in the opener was great and luck was definitely in my favour, as I’m not sure how the car made the finish to be honest. It was tricky conditions in race two and a bit of a tyre gamble. We came strong in the end and just needed a couple more laps to fight for the win. “We got a bit more good luck in race three, as I could have easily been stuck in the mud after being spun round. To take a damaged car back to fifth place shows just how quick the package is that the team have given me. It's all about being sensible and avoiding trouble at Brands Hatch now.”
Image from Jakob Ebrey Photography.