The new-generation Porsche 991 GT3 Cup really raised the ‘one make’ racing bar when it arrived in Asia last year. Now the first example is set to join Thailand Super Series (TSS) this year – and it’s going to be in the capable and talented hands of a one of the top Super 2000 racers, Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem.
It’s all set to be a very potent combination, a fast and capable driver behind the wheel a fast and capable car, so it has to be placed amongst the early favourites in Super Car Class 2-GTM this year. However Khun Pitsanu still has a lot to learn about the unique characteristics of racing a Porsche, this is a big step up from his current Honda Civic FD, while it’s a very similar story for his team, as they will also have to learn to extract the maximum from the car. But the ingredients are all there and the signs already look promising.
The dust is settling now on last month’s Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival. It was certainly bigger and even more action packed than ever before – but the key message was that the event took a big stride forward this time; the eighth edition could be regarded the start of the ‘second generation’ of the Speed Festival. In fact, in technological parlance, it was ‘Bangsaen 2.0’ and the future is looking very promising for the street-racing extravaganza. TSS Vice President Preeda Tantemsapya explains many of the exciting new plans for the event’s future.
Safety is an overarching priority for TSS and the street race in Bangsaen poses a tough test for the organisers to ensure that on track safety throughout the event always meets the highest standards. A year ago a state of the art Race Control Center was rolled out, one that conformed to international metrics and would provide a real platform for the future. Last month there were further refinements and tweaks made as the Race Control operation was fully optimised.
Finally, the Speed Festival enjoyed its first ever cycle race last month as the ‘Bangsaen Criterium’ was inaugurated. The new concept proved an instant hit with Thailand’s top cyclists as no less than 120 riders, the maximum permitted, came to participate and chase glory.
The riders all gave a big ‘thumbs up’ to the 3.7-km course, reckoning it suits two wheel ‘pedal power’ just as well as the grunting FIA GT3 monsters. Just one race old and the Bangsaen Criterium has already cemented its place on the Thai cycle racing calendar.
The ‘Dark Knight’ rides in on a new golden steed
Last year, one season after it debuted in the Porsche Supercup, the German sportscar maker introduced its dramatic new-generation 991 GT3 Cup into the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia ‘one make’ series, ending an eight year lifecycle for the ‘997’ version. Based on its latest 911 production model, the 991 GT3 Cup represents a significant step forward over the outgoing racing model.
The chassis has been reworked, as has the suspension, while overall weight has been reduced. Stability is improved thanks to a 100mm longer wheelbase while a beefier ‘endurance’ style braking system has been incorporated to allow drivers to better overtake their rivals under deceleration. It rides on new 18-inch central-locking wheels and other new ‘visual’ aspects include wider front arches, bonnet-mounted NACA ducts and vented polycarbonate three-quarter windows.
Under the massive rear wing the 991 GT3 Cup retains the outgoing model’s 3.8-litre flat-6 rear mounted engine but power rises to 460 hp. It also has a new modular racing clutch, a new rollcage design and a newly developed Porsche six-speed sequential gearbox with mechanical slip differential. The electropneumatic paddle shift system makes gear changes faster and more efficient than before.
It’s an all round big stride forward and with the 997 GT3 Cup having become the numerically most popular choice in Super Car Class 2-GTM, all eyes have been on who would bring the first of the new ‘991 generation’ racer to the middle class. Several drivers have investigated the new machine – and now the first one has recently been acquired.
It will be campaigned this year by a new driver and a new team to Super Car – but it’s a combination that’s very well known in the paddock after enjoying a lot of success last year in Super 2000. So they are perfectly positioned to graduate. Last month on the streets of Bangsaen Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem in fact comfortably wrapped up Super 2000’s hotly contested Class B title as well as finishing runner up in the overall championship. And he signed off a rewarding year in real style winning the final race in Bangsaen outright.
Having enjoyed several years fighting at the top end of the Super 2000 pack, including finishing as runner up overall in 2012 with the factory Toyota team, as well of course in the same position last year, Khun Pitsanu believes that he’s now ready to make the next move in his career.
He looked around for a car and reckons the 991 GT3 Cup, the first of a new generation of racecars, was the only logical choice. The new car has certainly impressed everyone during its first year around the leading circuits of Asia and Porsche have cut no corners in honing it to win on track.
“The Porsche Carrera Cup with the 991 has been going on for one year and they finished the races a few months ago so owners are looking to sell,” Khun Pitsanu explained after completing his second test in Sepang last week. “I think it’s a good opportunity for the future and the car is in good condition. It’s a new model so should hold its value.”
Khun Pitsanu has just enjoyed a very successful season driving a Honda Civic FD with Khun Lim Mongkol’s team, but while the primary focus throughout last year was on chasing the Super 2000 Class B title, everyone was thinking hard about the future – and by December the plans had dropped into place.
“It’s been the idea since the beginning of last year,” says Khun Pitsanu. “We talked about it all the time, when we should go up and it’s good timing for the sponsors as well as they are ready to go up.” Off the back of that rewarding season driver and team will make the step up together to take on the biggest challenge of all their racing lives so far.
Just last week Khun Pitsanu had his second test in the car at Sepang. The outing came after a first run took place a few days before the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival last month, although that shakedown was really just a quick systems check.
Khun Pitsanu reported that he enjoyed the test – but was very aware that he has a lot of work to do to get to grips with the new 991 GT3 Cup and extract its full potential. “It’s difficult as I have never raced a rear wheel drive car with rear engine or a Porsche and this is the most difficult car of all to learn,” admitted Khun Pitsanu. “I will need a lot of time to get good at it, but the car is fun to drive and has good performance.”
His team was also on hand at the test. “My team came to Sepang [but] they still need some time to get to know the car,” he said. The 991 will retain the striking metallic gold wrap it ran with in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia last year where Porsche factory driver Khun Martin Ragginger was in the driving seat.
Khun Pitsanu says the car is prepared and ready to go, apart from the transmission, which will now be sent for overhaul. Once it’s returned and refitted the car will be shipped to Thailand. “Hopefully it will be here within April,” he says. That will give Khun Pitsanu and his team a decent window to test the car prior to the TSS season opener.
Bangsaen: Chasing new horizons
Last month’s Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival was certainly bigger, better, brighter and busier than ever before – but the key message was that the event took a big stride forward; the eighth edition was really the start of the ‘second generation’ of the Speed Festival.
The previous edition was the first to be managed by Racing Spirit and as a part of the new Thailand Super Series programme so it was something of a holding year as everyone found their feet and the ‘New Era’ FIA GT3 machines were bedded in. But the signs of growth were clearly there and over the last year interest in the event has accelerated.
Over the last twelve months Racing Spirit has been very busy, putting in place the plans needed to build the future of the event and taking strategic decisions that will lift it from being a ‘local’ event to one that becomes a fixture on the international calendar.
In truth this was the breakthrough year and the ‘Speed Festival’ had a real international flavour, world-class drivers such as Tomáš Enge, Darryl O’Young, Franz Engstler and Kazuya Oshima came to do battle on the streets, cutting-edge GT3/GT300 racecars from top global brand names including Lamborghini, Chevrolet, Porsche and Toyota filled the ranks of Super Car Class 1-GT3 (which is now reserved for GT3 cars with current homologation) while international media arrived to cover the event. The platform for growth is in place.
TSS Vice President Preeda Tantemsapya wanted to convey that the big decisions have been taken, tough decisions that leave the organisers no comfort zone as the relentless drive towards international standards gathers pace. “A lot of improvements are taking shape now and will be in place for next year,” he said. “For the track inspection we are aiming for at least FIA Grade 4, but getting Grade 3, which is the same as Macau, is our key aim. That will allow international series to come and join us.” He says that there are several major championships interested in participating so expect a few surprises next year.
Khun Preeda also says that the profile of the event is growing. “The overview of the event is looking good and the advertising starting to pay off,” Khun Preeda continues. “Spectators were beyond the previous year’s level and hotels were booked out in Bangsaen and beyond in Sriracha.”
He also believes that a tipping point has been reached in terms of growing recognition where unfolding events are helping to spread the message. “The arrival of international drivers for example gives exposure without us doing too much, that helps,” Khun Preeda says. “The timing and location of the event is also helping us as I’ve spoken to a few German drivers in the last few days and they were suffering from the cold at home and would like to get away and race. I think we are going to see more experienced drivers coming to join and a lot of people interested in joining with GT3 and GT300 cars.”
Approaching relentlessly is the tenth anniversary of the Speed Festival and Khun Preeda reckons this milestone is a perfect target for TSS to raise itself to a new level. “We must take another step forward, well lots of steps, as 2016 will be our tenth anniversary and we must make that resonate.”
Khun Preeda believes that the foundations are in place and the event has grown in stature year by year and is now ready to play a much bigger role. “[Apex-KBR Track Designer] Simon [Gardini] said to me that Bangsaen is possibly the best kept secret in motorsport,” he says with a laugh. “That’s good news for us as we can open up the secret.”
The roadmap to the future of the Speed Festival is quickly unfolding, he says. “There’s lots going on and to make the improvements we need to make aren’t so difficult as much of the hard work has been done already.”
The ‘international’ flavour that is now flooding into the event since TSS launched the ‘New Era’ two years ago is positively impacting the drive for change as experts from almost all areas motorsport have become involved and apply their respective input. The vision for the future is also crystal clear, Khun Preeda says, and the drive to raise the Speed Festival to the next stage is underway. “[TSS] President Sontaya Kunplome says we must do everything to build Bangsaen to a new level,” he notes.
“The event had been stopped still for a few years so we will do everything we need to do to move forward,” Khun Preeda continues. “The slow progress had been due to a lack of international involvement, doing things ourselves, but now we have addressed this. I believe that Bangsaen is on the road to be very big; we really want it to be on the international map.”
Bangsaen: State-of-the-art Race Control Center
Last year TSS inaugurated a cutting edge Race Control Center that was bespoke-designed for the Bangsaen Street Circuit and its future growth in mind. Located in the conference rooms of the village’s Bangsaen Villa Hotel it proved a vital investment, taking race management and safety into the ‘New Era’.
The new Race Control central operation proved robust and highly capable. So for this year, with improving safety further a foremost priority along with TSS’s desire not to stand still at any point, lessons were analysed and learned and so there were additional evolutions to the format. Last year the new concept could be said to have been up and running at 90%, this year the final dots were joined up.
Notably, specific blind spots in the track were catered for with camera positioning improved, tweaked and optimised. The key result of this upgrade was the incorporation of adjustable cameras that were operated real time from Race Control.
We now have ten moveable cameras and thirty two cameras altogether,” explained Khun Preeda. “The new cameras have a wide sweep and can zoom in and move quickly by remote within the Race Control management process. They have been very successful and we fitted them with special focus on areas where safety is especially a priority. That’s certainly helped us in controlling the races.”
The second year saw the final pieces smoothly falling into place, as smoothly and with a new Race Director, Khun Ravin M., also being integrated, the system worked very well and this fundamental operational area of the ‘New Era’ has now been addressed by TSS to reach best international standards.
Khun Preeda was very pleased the way Khun Ravin slotted into the setup and he has in fact worked with TSS right since the start of the New Era, so the methodologies are in place. “I think all the operations are managed and understood well now,” he said. “It’s been especially good to have Ravin join us. He’s now in our system, he has a professional international outlook and he also understands our Thai methods so it comes together very well.
“Race Control managed to get the job done quickly all week, especially when there were penalties,” Khun Preeda continued, noting that when penalties needed to be executed the team was able to adjudge the situation quickly and calmly and apply the penalties in real time.
“The stewards and the Race Director worked very well together in an integrated manner and that prevented any links in the chain from breaking off,” Khun Preeda added. “We’re very pleased with the step up in standards this year as everyone is working very well together.”
As the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival continues to grow in size and stature there are always exciting new additions to the on track programme every year as more racing categories come to participate in this unique event. However this year there was a totally new ‘racing category’ squeezed into the bustling timetable as the village’s barrier-lined streets played host to the inaugural edition of the ‘Bangsaen Criterium’.
Cycling has rocketed upwards in popularity in Thailand over the past few years and with the Speed Festival organisers’ very keen to keep up with current trends, the idea of introducing a road cycling race into the programme quickly gained traction. With a ready made course and marshals as well as safety crews already in place, there wasn’t too much to physically organise.
The ‘Criterium’ was reserved for 30 teams made up of 4 riders each adding up to a total of 120 riders taking part. The bar was high too as top Thai riders and teams quickly put their names down and the entry filled out almost instantly. And in the theme of internationalisation that has gripped the Speed Festival in the ‘New Era’ of Thai motorsport there were also overseas rider names, from countries such as Australia, Belgium and Russia, on the entry list.
There were also plenty of high profile team names in evidence as the riders formed up for the start and they included eventual winners Singha Infinite as well as Bike Station, Santini Team, Life and Living Bike net, Flying Sharks, Rayong Road Bike, Keeree Team, Isarachon, Pattaya Cycling Association, Play Cycling Club, One Sby Cycling Team, Suanthon Gold City, HBR, Drag to Kill, Mr. V Bike Nakhonnayok, 39 Bike, Palang Noom, Napa Lomo Cycle and SuanBen.
The Criterium was scheduled for a very early start on the Speed Festival’s final day and in the dry and warm conditions of Sunday morning just as the sun started to rise the cyclists assembled in the paddock from 0600 before the official briefing kicked off at 0640 and the race went to ‘green lights’ at 0705.
The action was every bit as tense as the car races and despite the early hour there were people dotted in the grandstands as some race fans made a dawn start to the final day to catch the pedal power action. It was quite a unique sight at the Speed Festival for a race to be taking place in near-silence, just the swish of tyres and the occasional squeal of brakes penetrating the early morning air; Bangsaen’s signature flocks of seabirds remaining completely unperturbed by this new addition to the track programme.
When the dust had settled the Singha Infinite team emerged as the winners of the inaugural Bangsaen Criterium; the team comprising of three Thai riders, Khun Yutthana Mano, Khun Patiyarn, Khun Garnpolchue and Khun Puntawit Dibdeja and Russia’s Khun Konstantin Fast. The race’s runner up spot was grabbed by Suanthon Gold City while third place went to Rayong Road Bike and Flying Sharks.
Singha Infinite’s victorious Russian rider was delighted that they were able to bag the win and he revealed that the team had actually come together especially for this event, which had resonated with the riders’ ambitions. “The cycling team [was] created to participate in the race, we could not miss the new race on the car track,” said Khun Konstantin. “This is very interesting!”
He was also impressed by the track layout, which he reckoned made for an interesting and challenging race, which gave many riders the opportunity to push for victory. “I liked the circuit, it’s good for sprinters and for riders,” Khun Konstantin said. “There are many sharp turns [and] a small rise, this is what is needed to make the criterium interesting.
“Although the start was very early, a lot of good riders participated, there were many sprinters stronger than me and I realised that I have to get ahead,” he continued. “[There are] many turns [and that’s] good for separating from the group, that helped me.”
The Singha Infinite team’s strategy worked well and they bagged the first prize trophy. Khun Konstantin was delighted that their hard work had paid off. “I’m happy to win [the] first criterium in Bangsaen, it’s a great honour for me.”
Interestingly, the experienced Russian rider reckons that the new Bangsaen Criterium already has the potential needed to become a major fixture on the annual road cycle racing calendar here in the not to distant future – and he would certainly like to return to defend his crown if he has the opportunity.
“The race may grow and become another classic competition for cyclists in Thailand,” Khun Konstantin says. “If there are more good teams the higher the status and prestige of participating in this race. I cannot say for sure now, but I would really like to come back to this, it’s a good race.”