Will Burns began his European season racing at the world-famous Imola circuit for the first time in Italy, sharing a BMW M4 GT4 with Berkay Beslter in a new partnership with Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport.

But the duo endured a tough qualifying session to place 28th and 21st on the grid for the two one-hour races over the weekend.

However, they put that disappointment behind them with a couple of sensational performances in the races.

In the first race, Besler gained more than 10 places during the opening stint, before Burns continued their progress in style to take the chequered flag in 10th.

They produced similar heroics in race two, with Burns tackling the opening stint and enjoying a stunning first lap, gaining no less than seven places to 14th before a safety car period.

Further progress followed when racing resumed as Burns brilliantly moved up two more places to 12th, which he held until the pitstop window, before a strong stint from Besler earned a second 10th-place finish.

Two weeks on from Imola and Burns was back on more familiar tarmac as he tackled the British GT Championship’s traditional Easter weekend season opener at Oulton Park alongside new team-mate Jack Brown.

They got off to a great start in pre-event testing as they set the GT4 class pace, followed by more productive running across two free practice sessions on Saturday.

That set them up for a strong showing in qualifying, starting with Brown securing sixth on the grid for race one.

Burns’ best lap set their starting place for race two and he put in a blinding lap to finish just 0.07secs off pole position in third place.

With the duo feeling confident about their race pace, they headed into Easter Monday in high spirits but a subdued opening race saw Brown run in the GT4 top 10 throughout his opening stint, before Burns took over and brought their BMW home in sixth position.

Better was to come in race two, though, as they took full advantage of their higher grid position in a stop-start race.

Burns maintained third through an early safety car period and then through to a red flag stoppage just before their pitstop.

At the restart, Brown held position through to the finish, with a success time penalty for another driver ultimately securing them second overall and the Silver Cup class win.