DUBLIN STUDENT WATSON HEADS IN TO THE UNKNOWN AIMING TO IMPRESS

Andrew Watson will be heading in to the unknown for the next round of the British GT Championship on Saturday (11 Jul). The 20-year-old McLaren GT “Young Driver” will make his debut at the famous Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium – one of the fastest and most challenging tracks in the world. Trinity College Dublin student Watson and Von Ryan Racing co-driver Ross Wylie, line-up for the two-hour race on the back of the duo achieving their best result of the season, their McLaren 650S GT3 finishing seventh at Silverstone in May.

The undulating, ultra-fast 4.352-mile Spa track features 20-corners and is situated in the Ardennes forest. The venue, which is used for the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix, has its own micro-climate that often means very changeable weather conditions that can effect various parts of the circuit and not all of it. Andrew, who recently attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed, is due to line-up for the two-hour race, the only overseas event on the BGT calendar, at 11.15am BST on Saturday.

“I visited Spa for the first time last month but have never raced there so I’ve been spending a lot of time on my simulator at home so I know roughly where the track goes before I get there! I’m so excited to be racing at Spa. It’s arguably the most famous track in the world and where all the best drivers have excelled. It’s going to be awesome heading up to Eau Rouge for the first time, I think it’s definitely going to be a pinch myself moment. My first time on-track will be in Friday’s test session but I see my lack of experience at Spa as a real chance for me to show my talents. If I can do a good job after never having been there before it will be a good advertisement for myself. Everyone at Von Ryan Racing did a brilliant job last time out at Silverstone and I showed good pace. It all just needs to come together now, which I’m sure it will. I went to Goodwood’s Festival of Speed last month. I’d heard so many good things about it over the years so it was really cool to be invited. Ross and I were talking about the McLaren GT programme on the McLaren stage. The whole event itself was mind blowing, It’s also great to get more integrated within the McLaren GT family and I hope next year I can get to drive something up the famous hillclimb.”