CHRIS BURNS has landed a full-time ride in the German Superbike Championship after his terrific batch of results in the last IDM round.
The Geordie ace heads out to Austria this weekend for his third round with the Holzhauer Honda Racing team in the IDM German Superbike Championship. The former MotoGP rider says he is feeling much more confident after striking a deal to stay with the team for the remainder of the 2009 season.
Burns initially joined the leading factory Honda outfit in May as a temporary replacement for injured reigning champion Martin Bauer, on the understanding it would probably only be for a handful of rounds.
But this week team chiefs offered him a ride for the rest of the year, following his impressive second and fourth place finishes at the Sachsenring two weeks ago. He will join Bauer and seven-times F1 champion Michael Schumacher on the team to see out the rest of the year.
Burns said: “I thought I would only be with them for another one round, two at the very most because Martin should be fit again soon, and Michael is itching to return as soon as he’s fit enough.
“But I got a call from my manager in Germany who said the team had confirmed they wanted to keep me on. They’ve got a bike for me, and say they can handle the extra work, so it looks like I’m there now until the end of the year. It’s fantastic news."
Although Burns has never raced at Sachsenring before, he says he is confident he can do well: “It’s a top speed circuit, and I believe it will suit my Honda down to the ground. I’ve never been there before but I do like the look of it, and I’m going out there to go one better than the second place at Sachsenring.
“I’m still the team’s only rider, so I have to deliver the results this weekend, but I think we’re more than capable of doing it. I don’t know how the weather will play into our hands – it’s forecast to rain all weekend, and it was wet at the last race.
“More than anything I want a dry one, so I can prove I’m as good in the dry as I am in the wet.”
