Andrew Watson (racing driver)

Andrew Watson (born 21 January 1995) is a racing driver from Belfast, Northern Ireland, currently competing in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup driving for the Douglas Motorsport team. In 2013, he finished 7th overall in the Ginetta GT Supercup. In 2012, he competed in the Ginetta Junior championship, finishing 4th overall.

Racing career

2012 – Ginetta Juniors

In 2012 Watson contested the entire season of the Ginetta Junior championship, again with Douglas Motorsport.

The season saw him get 6 podium places including 2 seconds and 1 win. There were only 2 non-finishes out of the 20 rounds in the season.

2013 – Ginetta GT Supercup

Andrew Watson Ginetta G55 Thruxton 2013

Watson's Ginetta Junior team decided to enter the senior competition, the Ginetta GT Supercup, using a Ginetta G55 car.^[1]

At the first meeting of the season at Brands Hatch Indy circuit, Watson qualified a stunning 2nd despite having little experience in the much more powerful G55 car. This translated to a 7th place finish in round 1, followed by an 8th place in round 2, both on the Saturday. Round 3 was held on Sunday an even more impressive finish in 4th place cemented his arrival in the senior ranks.

Success at Donington Park at the second meeting of the year, was not so easy to repeat but Watson did qualify 3rd and managed to get the fastest lap in round 5.

Watson achieved his first podium in the GT Supercup, with a 2nd place finish in round 7, at the year's 3rd meeting at Thruxton in Hampshire.

At Knockhill, Watson achieved pole position for round 18 (being the meeting's 1st race) on Sat 24 Aug Sadly, this could not be converted to a maiden race win in the GT Supercup owing to him having to serve a drive-through penalty. He eventually finished the race in 10th place.

In round 20 at Knockhill, Watson led the race for 23 of the 24 lap race however he was overtaken for the lead by championship leader Tom Ingram. A last corner overtake saw Matt Nicoll-Jones take second place with Watson gaining holding on to third place.

Watson finished the season in 7th place overall in the standings with 372 points.

2014 – Ginetta GT4 Supercup

For the now renamed 2014 Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Watson stayed with long-term team Douglas Motorsport alongside a new team mate, Harry Woodhead, winner of the 2013 Ginetta Junior Championship.

Success came early, with pole position, fastest lap and a win in the opening round at Brands Hatch, followed by second and third place finishes in the next two rounds. A further win at Thruxton in round 9 of the series, saw Watson leading the championship with 230 points.

Watson eventuall finished the season in 4th place on 640 points.

2015 – British GT Championship

Watson is to compete in the British GT Championship driving a McLaren 650S GT3 for Von Ryan Racing as part of the McLaren Younf Driver Programme.^[2] He will compete in the GT3 class which is a step-up from the GT4 class he previosuly drave in the 2014 Ginetta GT4 Supercup.

Racing record

Complete Ginetta GT Supercup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races)

References

External links

• awatsonracing.com
• Driver Profile Page at Ginetta.com