Pasin Lathouras is set for one of the biggest challenges of his career so far as he now makes final preparations to contest the Macau GT Cup, which takes place this coming Sunday. The race, boasting a world-class entry list, will be one of the headline events of the famous Macau Grand Prix weekend.
The Macau Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious annual motorsports weekends in Asia and in fact the world. This year will see the 61st running of the historical event. The Macau GT Cup, reserved for FIA GT3 cars, is now heading into its eighth year as part of the event and has in a very short time become one of the most important sportscar dates on the calendar.
Pasin, driving the #33 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3 entry, will join a 36-strong field of world-class factory drivers and teams armed with the latest cutting edge FIA GT3 homologated cars. Ten brands will be represented on the grid on Sunday morning, and, as well as the ‘Prancing Horse’, they will include Audi, Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, BMW, Bentley, Aston Martin and Porsche. The Macau GT Cup is also the final round of GT Asia Series 2014.
It’s all a very big ask for the 20-year-old amateur driver to mix it up with world class stars – but Pasin’s relishing the opportunity and having grown up in Asian motorsport, he’s probably looking forward to this race more than any other. The target is simple, Pasin will aim to steer clear of the barriers and incidents and get to the finish line, targeting the top ten and pushing as hard as possible.
The ‘Guia Circuit’ is regarded as one of the most challenging street circuits in the world and its mix of high-speed straights, tight and twisting corners, sharp ascents and descents, all make huge demands of both the driver and the car’s setup. The course winds around the Macau Peninsular and is quite long at 6.2-km (last year’s quickest lap was in 2 minutes 20 seconds) and at its narrowest point, the Melco Hairpin, it’s just 7m wide. The track has 19 turns and, unusually, the layout is almost identical to that used by first event in 1954.
Pasin, who will be supported this week as usual by NaRaYa, NARA and the Tourism Authority of Thailand, has previous experience of this circuit in junior single seater cars to call upon as well as a handful of practice laps in a Ferrari 458 GT3, and he says he fell in love with the track the first time he saw it. It’s certainly at the top of his list of ambitions and he’s looking to make his mark this year when he will have his first real opportunity to target a strong finish.
For Pasin it also represents a return to his native Asia after completing his first season racing in Europe. And he will arrive with plenty of confidence as he’s enjoyed a very productive and successful learning year. His main programme this year has focused on the seven round British GT Championship where he’s been on the podium and on the front row of the grid.
A late season two-race programme in International GT Open also brought real rewards as he claimed a debut win at Spa-Francorchamps and he followed that up with a podium at Monza. Finally, a one off race in last month’s IMSA United SportsCar Championship closing 10 Hour Petit Le Mans with the Spirit of Race team saw Pasin and his teammates battle through the field to lead the race in GT-D and eventually bag a strong finish after race closing circumstances conspired to keep them away from the top spots.
It’s been a hard working season, but the key objective, for Pasin to develop and improve as a racing driver, is a target that’s been clearly met. It all sets Pasin up perfectly to race in Macau this week and he will have a team he knows very well behind him as he will be driving once again for AF Corse. This weekend will wrap up his second year racing with the Italian team.
The action on track at Macau starts on Thursday (13 November) with a 30-minute Free Practice session running from 1205-1235. Friday (14 November) sees the Qualifying 1 (Q1) session take place; it will be of 30-minutes duration and is scheduled for 1310-1340. The second Qualifying session (Q2) will be held on Saturday (15 November) and is again of 30-minutes duration and is set to run from 1250-1320. Sunday (16 November) sees the Macau GT Cup take place, it will start at the slightly earlier time of 0900 this year and be of 12 laps duration. Without factoring in any possible flag or Safety Car interruptions, the race is scheduled to run for around 30 minutes.
Pasin Lathouras: “I’m excited for this race for sure, it looks like being the highlight of my season. Macau is as big as it gets for any sportscar driver and the track is one of the most exciting and challenging in the world. I like street races and I hope I can get to grips with it quickly. But really, the entry list is amazing, just to be on track with some of these guys is where I have been aiming for in my career. I’m driving for a great team, I have great sponsors supporting me and a car I know well so now I have to work really hard and get a good result to end my racing season.”