NASCAR Whelan Euro Series, Burdon aiming for solid banking at Tours

Australias Josh Burdon will be working at rebuilding his Open Class lead when the NASCAR Whelan Euro Series tackles the newly upgraded Tours Speedway (FRANCE) this coming weekend, 6-7 July 2013.

The 20 year old from Hobart was forced to retire his Forza Motorsport Chevrolet SS in the final race at Brands Hatch in the last round, but knows that he has a real shot at winning the Open Class, which he has lead from the opening race of the year.I am excited for this weekend, but it is a different sort of approach I will be taking, said Burdon, I am leading the Championship by 19 points, so this weekend I believe I need to be driving with Championship in my mind instead of taking big risks to gain only a few more points.I think its going to be difficult for me because I have never been in this situation before and I have always been 100% attack with nothing to lose, so I have been bashing it into myself about looking at the big picture.

The Tours Speedway has undergone recent upgrades to create a nine degree banked oval track, to mirror the iconic NASCAR tracks in America, which will be a Series first in Europe.

Having never driven on an oval before my main objective is to survive and keep the car straight at the end of the weekend, said Burdon, It is expected to be as little as a 17 second lap, so with 24 cars on track at once around a high speed 17 second lap one thing is certain - there is a real potential for a lot of carnage!

It is going to be an insane event, said Burdon, last year they said they had around 35,000 spectators, so a big response, and last years race was held in a flat car park, so this year I think it will be very cool.

This round will be the last of the regular season, with a non-Championship event in Spain at the start of September, before two rounds of finals (28th September and 12th October), where all points awarded are doubled.

After this weekend, with no damage and clean results touch wood, we basically have an eight week break before Monza and the Le Mans Final where we can sit down and recalculate what needs to be done and make sure the car is perfect so we do not have any issues in the playoff rounds.The Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series has recently announced a new naming rights partner in long-time NASCAR supporter, Whelan Engineering, and Burdon is hopeful that it is another step in rewarding European drivers with opportunities in America.

Hopefully this new category sponsor will assist in taking us drivers from Europe to the US, so its definitely exciting times ahead, said Burdon, as it is now, I want this Championship, and I want to be at the NASCAR Night of Champions in Charlotte in December alongside my American idols.The Elite and Open Classes will have their first taste of the banked oval track on Friday for open practice, before qualifying and 100 lap races on both Saturday and Sunday.

I believe after 100 laps of racing if I can stay out of trouble and not get bashed around to much I should end up the pointy end anyway, fingers crossed because Im sure everyone is out to get me.


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