Forza Motorsports Josh Burdon has dominated the opening round of the 2013 Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series in Nogaro, FRANCE, this weekend, 29th March 1st April 2013.
The 20 year-old from Hobart (AUSTRALIA), started from pole position in both races, and lead from start to finish two days in a row to bank maximum points for the season opener.
Two wins from two races feels good, but then again, I didnt come all the way from Australia to finish second, said Burdon, theres still 10 races to go in the season, so if I can win 10 more Ill be much happier.
Its going to be a tough season, said Burdon, I am new to the series, so is everyone else, but I wouldnt consider it a truly open-type category as there are a lot of elite / experienced drivers in the field which will make it hotly contested, I was just lucky that it all fell my way this weekend.Heavy rain had affected the track conditions for race two, and claimed early victims with the safety car called after several cars had contact at turn 1, whilst Burdon made it through unscathed.
After three laps under yellow conditions, the race finally restarted with 20 minutes remaining, and just like he did in race one, Burdon opened up a quick gap over the field.
When I saw the rain in the morning I just thought all the hard work we did for the dry set-up was for nothing, so we reinvented the car this morning, and took more risks with set-up, said Burdon, the race was difficult to say the least, with a foggy windscreen, and quite heavy rain, especially at the end there.
I was lucky to get out in front again and once we went green I wanted to just control the race and go at an easy tempo, said Burdon, I tried to go at an easy tempo, but couldnt help myself and had a few big moments, so actually lucky to be here at the end.Burdon again took to task in growing his lead out as far as 11 seconds throughout the race, recording the fastest lap of the race on lap seven, a 1:53.664 on his way to the chequered flag.
The car that the Scorpus Racing guys gave me to run in was unreal, said Burdon, extremely quick in the dry and wet, and I really have to thank those guys for all the effort and faith they placed in me, so hopefully this is just the start of me repaying the favour.Having lead every lap of both races, Burdon also banked five bonus points in each race (three for win, one for having lead any lap during the race, and one for having lead most number of laps), which also denied any bonus points for other drivers on his way to securing the Championship lead with 96 points, 16 clear of next placed driver in Open Class.
Im looking forward to having a big debriefing with the Team, work out the good and bad points so we can be even stronger at Dijon and keep the momentum going.
Burdon will return to Australia this week before flying out at the end of the month for round two of the Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series at Circuit de Dijon-Prenois (FRANCE) 11-14 May 2013.
I have some great support back in Australia who have been staying up all hours of the morning to watch the live timing and I really cant wait to get back and catch up with them before coming back to go again in May.
