I recently caught up with Will after meeting him first at the British GT Championship (Round 8) at Donington Park in which he was driving the #47 Aston Martin GT4 for Forsetti Motorsport.
We had arranged to speak the following Friday but Will was drafted in at 24 hours notice to race two rounds of the Clio Cup GB the following weekend. He subsequently won both rounds!
The following Monday Will joined me by phone and talked through his career to date and aspirations for the future.
As many racing drivers do Will started his career in karting at the age of 5 and for the next 10 years competed successfully across the UK and in Europe. Aged 15 Will secured 1 of 50 academy places at The Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK or CIK -FIA). This international programme allowed for further development and great proving ground for Will's talents.
Will then transitioned to junior car racing, winning the rookie championship in Junior Fiestas and then progressing to two years in Ginetta GT5s. In 2023 he competed in the JCW Mini Racing Series, coming second overall and with several records to boot (largest ever winning margin, most fastest lap of the weekend prizes and most podiums of any driver). It was during this time that he was being coached by Matt George, who himself was a successful Aston driver winning numerous GT championships. Matt was involved in the newly created Forestti team and Will seemed the perfect fit. Once the race seat had been offered then it was down to Will and his commercial partners to create a solution, to make this offer a reality.
Forsetti is an AMR partner racing team and this allowed Will to become part of the AMR Racing Academy which is limited to only a small selection of drivers across the world. The AMR package is relatively hands off but require meticulous reporting by each driver on their progress throughout the season. At the end of the season 4 drivers are finally selected to test the Vanatge GT3 Evo. Will obviously hopes to secure one of these places and prove that he can make the jump to compete successfully at the next level.
Will is clearly honoured to be driving the Aston brand and rates the racing car highly. The GT3 and GT4 platforms (built by Prodrive) are the same across the world and now compete successfully in numerous global championships. This provides opportunities for drivers like Will to progress further as their career develops.
His performances at Forsetti this season have been excellent and as I write Will is due to compete at Brands Hatch at the end of September for the GT4 drivers title. It's going to be a straight race to the finish with four cars in with a chance of outright glory.
Ultimately Will would like to race a factory entered Aston at Le Mans but in the short term he would embrace another successful season with Forsetti.
Will struck me as a driver with personal maturity and skill and is already proving a great ambassador for the team and brand. We wish him luck and will continue to report on his exciting future within Aston Martin racing community.
Photo credit – Will Orton Racing