Brett Osborn has etched his name into the HQ Racing Australia record books as the first driver to win three consecutive national titles as well as having five to his name.
Racing as close to home as the Muswellbrook driver will get, the National Titles event was held last weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park where he won all his heats and qualified on pole for the title race.
“I’m pretty proud, a lot of work goes into it and it’s not easy,” Brett said of the achievement.
“It wasn’t an easy race either, I was pushed the whole way, like the last three nationals, the guy who finished second Luke (Harrison) he’s been all over me the whole weekend, and we’ve just been fortunate enough to hold him off.”
When Brett rolled out for practice on Friday he said the car wasn’t feeling anything special, but when they put new tyres on for qualifying it just took off like it was on rails.
The pressure was on throughout the titles race, when a safety car on the opening lap kept the 45 cars close, but after the restart Brett and Luke pulled a gap on the pack.
“Unfortunately around lap 16 or 17 he had an engine issue which meant he had to back off and limp his car home, so the last couple laps I didn’t have the pressure. But up until then, it was hard,” Brett told The Hunter River Times.
“It was hard fought, I was having to defend against him and trying to minimize the mistakes, and we had lapped traffic that borks you at different times as well and holds you up.
“It was a challenge, we knew it was going to be when you’ve got 20 laps at Eastern Creek, it’s a long time.”
The racer in Brett would have loved to have continued the battle with Luke, which saw the two switch places a few times throughout the race, continue to the end, but at the same time it was a relief to be able to enjoy the closing laps with a nice buffer to the cars behind him.
Brett was not chasing the New South Wales HQ title this year due to missing rounds earlier in the year, but he will contest the Four Hour in December as well as jumping behind the wheel of his Aussie Racing Car at the Adelade 500 in November.
- Jem Anshaw
