The stakes will be higher than ever before, for Josh Burdon, when the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series resumes for the penultimate round of the year at Monza Racetrack, ITALY, this weekend, 27-29th September 2013.
With the points doubled for the final two rounds of the season, 21 year old Burdon knows that he will have to be at the top of his game to keep his Forza Motorsport / Xbox Chevrolet SS at the top of the Open Class, as he currently holds a 26 point lead.
“It’s been so long since the last round at Tours at the start of July,” said Burdon, “right now I really just can’t wait to get back in the driver’s seat”.
“We have a small lead now, so with the Championship points at the last two rounds doubled, a good result will be really good in trying to boost our lead a little bit more, but, at the same time, a bad one could see that lead disappear quite quickly.”
With the last race almost three months ago, Burdon was fortunate to receive an invitational drive in the French Formula Premium Series two weekends ago, which has allowed him to hone in on that racing mindset ahead of the final rounds of the Whelen Series.
“The Formula Premium Series needs almost a completely different racing style, but I’m glad that I’ve been able to get some competition time under my belt to shake out any cobwebs,” said Burdon, “the results were certainly an unexpected bonus, but it’s all helped me focus on what’s coming up.”
Having been initially offered his spot with Scorpus Racing in the corresponding rounds of last year’s Championship, Burdon is determined to make the most of the successes in the last year, and be at the top of the standings when the final chequered flag falls at Le Mans.
“It’s been an amazing experience, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity and faith shown by Alain [Veyssiere] and the Scorpus Racing team over the last year,” said Burdon, “it’s been a little unreal to have had the pace and wins to be where we are right now, but we need to remain focussed on bringing this Championship home in four weeks time before we get too excited”.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will have two 45 minute practice sessions on Friday 27th September, with qualifying and race one for both classes on Saturday, and a final race each on Sunday.
“Fingers crossed we can stay out of trouble and bag a good haul of points this weekend, back it up at Le Mans, and book ourselves a trip to America.”
