Nineteen year old Douglas Motorsport driver Andrew Watson this weekend moved one step closer to a championship title as he returned to top of the table in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup.
In action at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire, the Douglas Motorsport driver began the weekend in fourth place following qualifying: “We went for a different strategy than what we would normally have followed. We chose to hover around until the end of the session, when we then went for pole position. But we missed the sweet spot in the tyres and we were lucky to snatch a fourth in the dying seconds.”
Beginning race one on Saturday lunchtime in fourth place, the young driver from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland got off to a good start. Watson managed to pass Charlie Robertson – who, after the second weekend of the competition had led the Championship – but at the expense of his tyres, which showed signs of degradation by the end of the race. Watson said: “This was a hard track to pass on so I was pleased to move past Robertson but I knew, by the end of the race, that the second race would be tough considering how my tyres were looking.”
Watson, whose sponsors include Woking Shopping Centre, Westland, Donnelly Group and Adoreboard, began race two in fourth place but struggled on with worn tyres. “My tyres just fell off the cliff and were down to just canvas so, by this point, we were just focusing on bringing the car home. We were quite happy to finish in fourth and to have beaten Robertson in both races so, going in to day two, we were feeling quite positive.”
Having saved his good tyres for the final race of the weekend, and enjoying a reverse grid pole, Watson got off to a strong start in the final race of the weekend: “I got a good start off the line and I managed to go on to just clear away from the rest of the grid.”
Watson won the final race of the weekend by 13 seconds, leaving him at the top of the table going into weekend four, which will take place at Oulton Park on 7th and 8th June.
On returning to the leader spot, he said: “Confidence is high. The car was quick and everything seems to be going well. Now we just have to ride the wave and keep pushing on.”
