Australias Josh Burdon has raced his Forza Motorsport Chevrolet SS to victory at Dijon, FRANCE, for round two of the Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series this weekend, 9-12 May, extending his lead in the Open Class.
The 20-year-old from Hobart finished the weekend with a second place in the opening race on Saturday, and a race win on Sunday, which sees him now 28 points clear of his closest rival after two rounds.
I wasnt happy with the second step [on the podium] yesterday, so overnight, we made a few more set up changes and I was just going all out for it and it paid off, said Burdon, a good result and extended the championship lead, so Im happy.
The Scorpus Racing guys did a great job; my teammate Sailesh [Bolisetti] had a crash in the earlier race, so to get things turned around and get back on the top step, Im pretty happy right now.
With practice sessions hampered by gearbox and clutch issues, Burdon only saw 20 minutes of track time before Qualifying on Friday, but still managed to set the fourth fastest time.
This track is very fast and requires a lot of commitment, so it took me a little while to get my confidence up, said Burdon, qualifying fourth isnt exactly bad, but I wasnt satisfied, I had a few issues with traffic getting in my way on flying laps, and I reckon theres more in the car.In the opening race of the weekend, Burdon quickly found himself in second place with a race-long battle for the lead, which he held momentarily on lap 12 of 21, however, ended the race 0.17s behind eventual race winner, Anthony Gandon.
I came from fourth to finish second, and only a tenth of a second off winning, said Burdon, one of the best races I have had, so intense at such high speeds, we both gave each other room and we never touched the entire race, but he was just the better man on the day.With the second fastest lap time in the opening race, Burdon found himself back on the front row for the Sundays contest, and took the lead straight from green flag.
I think I have a fast car on cold tyres, said Burdon, I got a good start, and I squeezed Anton [Gandon] right to the inside. I didnt expect him to back out, and I was actually about to back out, but much to my surprise he did, he left me a little space and so Ill take it, said Burdon, with that little gain, I just put my head down and worked hard to get a lead.
The field was bunched up mid-race with a Safety Car period, but Burdon was untroubled from the restart, opening a gap over two seconds on his way to his third race win in four starts.
When I saw the safety car board after I had a bit of a buffer, and I just thought oh great, now we have to start all over again, said Burdon, but, no, we had a really good car, and I was able to pull away consistently through to the end.
The Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series travels across the English Channel, for round three of the Series at Brands Hatch, 8-9 June 2013.I really like this kind of weekend, and hopefully we keep the momentum going into the rest of the season, and keep extending this lead.
