Thailand Super Series (TSS) returned to the North East last weekend for its second and final visit of the year to Buriram’s new world class racing circuit and after all the drama and excitement of the season opener anticipation was sky-high for ‘The Sequel’. The biggest racing categories in Thailand, Super Car’s Class 1-GT3 and Class 2-GTM, didn’t disappoint the fans one bit as close fought racing ensued.
In Super Car Class 1-GT3 Khun Tomáš Enge and the reigning champion Khun Chonsawat Asavahame split the wins between them. They were very evenly matched all weekend driving the Chevrolet Camaro GT3 and Lamborghini Gallardo Extenso R-EX respectively. Those results mirror the first round of the series and leave the top class in a dead heat.
Meanwhile the pace in Super Car Class 2-GTM went through the roof as the arrival of Khun Jack Lemvard in a front-running Vattana Motorsport-entered Lamborghini Gallardo LP520 really shook up the order. He planted his new machine straight onto pole position and controlled Race 1 from the front right from the green lights to the checkered flag to book himself the top step of the podium, announcing his return to the top in style.
Hotshot youngster Khun Kantasak Kusiri chased him to the finishline in his Ferrari 458 Challenge in the first race and then went one better in the second to move into the provisional lead of the championship as the competitors left Buriram on Sunday evening, although the result of Race 2 currently remains provisional.
The return visit to Buriram’s Chang International Circuit marked the halfway point in the championship and 2015 is really proving to be a ‘Golden Year’ for Thai motorsport with Super Car unquestionably leading the charge.
The action in both classes was intense and the gaps throughout the weekend in practice, qualifying and the races were always wafer-thin. And despite the humidity and heavy skies the rain mostly stayed away.
Super Car Class 1-GT3: Saturday
When the lights went green for the first race at the earlier than usual 1300 start time Khun Tomáš got the power down in the big black Camaro and he held the racing line into Turn 1 with teammate Khun Chonsawat tucking in tight behind as they ducked through the first corner. Khun Umar A. Rahman in the team’s second Lamborghini Gallardo FL2, the #14 entry, assumed third place as the trio of FIA GT3 Reiter Vattana Motorsport racecars screamed down the hill towards the hairpin.
An early incident amongst the Class 2-GTM runners, which were sharing the track, brought the Safety Car out after just a lap and that also backed the pace off for the big boys as the Camaro and the two Gallardos trundled round. When the race went back to green flag conditions Khun Chonsawat took a quick look down the inside of the Camaro but Khun Tomáš had it well covered and the two resumed station at the front in identical positions.
It stayed that way until the checkered flag came out after 15 laps, albeit Khun Chonsawat kept very close, the gap was just 0.340 seconds in the end. That gave Khun Tomáš and the Reiter-built Camaro two wins on the trot, the Czech driver having claimed honours in second race at the season opener back in May.
In fact counting back, thanks to his superb double win at the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival last December during the 2014 Super Car season closer, the big Camaro GT3, again in the hands of Reiter Engineering’s official test and development driver, had now won four out of the last five Class 1-GT3 races. Khun Tomáš also bagged the fastest time of the race, in 1:35.724; that was set on the seventh lap.
Khun Chonsawat came home for P2 in his new Gallardo Extenso R-EX. The MY2016 version of the hugely successful Reiter-built Gallardo breed features a much wider rear track amongst its detail changes. Khun Chonsawat debuted the car at the season opener and in the intervening period also ran in in the recent Super GT round held here in Buriram.
Khun Umar, now getting more track time under his belt at Chang International Circuit in his Gallardo FL2, wrapped up the top three finishers as Reiter Vattana Motorsport continue to hold sway over the top racing category in Thai motorsport.
Super Car Class 2-GTM: Saturday
Khun Jack Lemvard made a smooth getaway at the rolling start to convert his pole position into the race lead as the big field bunched back up again into Turn 1 and it was an advantage he wouldn’t relinquish for the remaining 15 laps of the race.
There was a clean start for the whole pack in fact as Khun Jack took control, moving across to hold keep the racing line into Turn 1, although his teammate Khun Akihiro in the sister Gallardo, who had qualified on the front row, quickly faded at the green lights as he suffered fuel pressure problems. Khun Kantasak immediately tucked into P2 while covering the powerful menace of the Holden Commodore right behind him. Next up was Khun Henk J. Kiks in the #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup superbly cutting round the outside of Khun Akihiro’s #4 Lamborghini to grab the momentum to swing round the outside of the Holden into Turn 1 with the two factory Toyotas of Khun Nattavude and Khun Kazuya making a good start to tuck in next.
Also starting well were the Porsches of Khun Aekarat Discharoen and Khun Daniel Bilski, the latter getting a great run off the line. However those two would both be gone within a lap, the result of an incident that brought out the Safety Car. As the big pack formed into a queue it was Khun Jack from Khun Kantasak and then Khun Craig and Khun Kazuya, the latter two having jumped Khun Henk, with the Toyota driver in particular having a superb first lap as he started to demonstrate why he was the star of this round here last November.
The B-Quik Audi was left in a Toyota sandwich as Khun Nattavude followed him round with Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi and Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem next up with the Ferrari of Khun Bhurit Bhirombhakdi and the Porsche of Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul rounding out the top ten.
When the Safety Car went back in Khun Nattavude pipped Khun Henk into P5 as a real race to the checkered flag unfolded. However, rejuvenated after finally swapping his elderly Porsche 996 for a more modern Lamborghini Gallardo LP520, Khun Jack got cleanly away after the Safety Car peeled off and the lights turned green again. Within a lap he had a few cars lengths in hand and then he withstood pressure for the rest of the race from the Ferrari of Kantasak and in truth a much-anticipated battle for track position between the two never quite materialised, the race leader always able to keep the gap steady at just over a second.
The young Ferrari driver never let up all race as the top two pulled out a gap of 8 seconds over the next car by the checkered flag. Khun Jack reckoned afterwards he had be forced to work hard to keep the pace, but this is arguably the most gifted driver of his generation and he usually makes racecraft look a lot easier than it actually is; he certainly didn’t seem to be overly threatened.
Khun Kantasak also had to think of the title fight as, with the two joint champions leaders coming into the weekend, Khun Aekarat and Khun Sarun, both struggling to make an impact on the points paying positions, that P2 catapulted him into the provisional joint championship lead overnight equal on 35 points with Khun Craig Corliss who had a very tidy race to finish in third place although, unlike at the first round back in May, he never looked like threatening the fight for P1.
The gap between Khun Jack and Khun Kantasak at the end was just 1 second. They were also the only two drivers in Class 2-GTM to dip under the 1:40 barrier all race, Khun Jack posting a 1:39.738 and Khun Kantasak a 1:39.982.
The green Holden had a quieter early part of the race after a difficult start where Khun Craig couldn’t find the space to take advantage of the big V8’s straight-line power. After the Safety Car period the New Zealander saw off the early challenge of the fast-starting Audi of Khun Henk who had nipped through into P3.
Khun Craig reported his tyres went off quite quickly in the later stages so he had to work to withstand late race pressure from the Dutchman who came back into the race and also a challenge over the closing laps from the two Toyotas. It was a very solid result and one that edged Khun Craig, jointly with Khun Kantasak, into the provisional overnight lead of the championship.
After looking out of sorts at the season opener back in May and making a slow start to the week on Thursday the two leading Toyota 86 racecars from Toyota Team Thailand slowly edged their way back into podium contention as the weekend loomed into view. Khun Nattavude and Khun Kazuya turned it on in the race to relentlessly move up the order and into higher positions.
Running a strong and quick pace they both made the podium, the Japanese driver, who was deputising for the car’s regular pilot Khun Nattapong Horthongkum, battled up the field and by the end of the race had closed up to just a couple of seconds off the Holden. Khun Nattavude followed Khun Kazuya home to give Toyota a very good 4-5 result. It’s one that banishes memories of the season-opener and puts them right back in the game.
Khun Nattavude put their resurgent form down to strides made with setup and the input of stand-in driver Khun Kazuya. “On Thursday on the test day I improved the setup by about one second [and] on Friday on the qualifying I was one second quicker also, so in total I was two seconds quicker than last time,” he said afterwards. “The big improvement is the new setup, which I try step by step and [Khun Kazuya] when he came I also learn from him on the setup. But in the race my tyres easily drop down, after four laps [I suffered] a lot of understeering and with the brakes also, but I try to keep the position until the finish. It was a very good race.”
Just missing the last step of the podium was the second Singha Motorsport Team Thailand Ferrari of the reigning champion Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi. He had a tidy race in the #1 car and showed plenty of pace to finish just one second off the back of the Toyota of Khun Nattavude. In fact making it three cars, spanning from fifth to seventh, covered by just two seconds at the checkered flag was the first Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, the #55 driven by Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul. The joint championship leader coming into the race he didn’t have a good qualifying session but chipped away at the mid order during the race to work his way up to P7.
Not matching his qualifying form was Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem who lost ground on the first lap in the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup and was left to try to make it back up the running order as the race unfolded. However he added more points for P8 as both team and driver continue to get to grips with their exciting new machine.
Next up was Khun Bhurit Bhirombhakdi, in the points and on the final classification in his first ever race in TSS, while the top-ten was wrapped up by Khun Henk. He looked pacey all race, made a great start to take P3 into Turn 1 and was then embroiled in race long battles with the Holden and two Toyotas for the lower podium steps. The Audi however spun on the last lap while Khun Henk was right in the midst of the podium positions. However he recovered to finish tenth and nab the final championship point on offer.
Eleventh overall and the first lapped car was the Porsche of Khun Shuipang Kanjanapas, he was first in the unofficial ‘League of Gentlemen’ while also fending off the third factory Toyota, the #22 of Khun Manat Kulapalanont, for most of the race. Next up in thirteenth spot was the #77 Team NZ Porsche of Khun Graeme Dowsett. This was his debut race in Super Car after his teammate Khun John Curran drove the car in both races at the season opener. With Khun John heading back overseas on business on the Friday, Khun Graeme was penciled in to drive both races in the car, which sported a new chrome-dominated wrap for the weekend.
The final classified finisher was the #4 Vattana Lamborghini of Khun Akihiro Asai. The Japanese driver had planted the red car on the outside of the front row in qualifying, but a fuel pressure problem which started occurring on the warm up lap saw him peel off into the pits at the end of the first lap. His mechanics were able to rectify the fault but not before a lot of time was lost and he finished four laps down, albeit still classified, in fourteenth place. The two non-finishers were the Porsches of Khun Aekarat and Khun Daniel.
Super Car Class 1-GT3: Sunday
The roles at Reiter Vattana Motorsport were abruptly reversed in Sunday’s second and final Class 1-GT3 race of the weekend as the reigning champion Khun Chonsawat eventually edged out his teammate to take the win after a race that was dominated by three Safety Car periods.
At the green lights Khun Chonsawat got the better run down to Turn 1, he nipped onto the racing line and moved across the front of the pole-sitting Camaro to take the lead with Khun Umar tucking in behind them in P3.
After the Safety Car went back in the pendulum swung the other way as Khun Tomáš used the brute force of the Camaro to retake the lead into Turn 1. The big black Camaro powering away with the two sleek white Gallardos tucked in behind.
However the Safety Car was swiftly deployed again and when it went in this time the race came back to Khun Chonsawat who took the lead as the closing stages approached. Then, for a third time the Safety Car was deployed, only going back in on the final lap, thus allowing the racecars little more than a last blast down to the finishline.
There were to be no upsets enacted over the final few hundred metres of green flag running and Khun Chonsawat accelerated the #28 Gallardo Extenso R-EX out of Turn 12 and over the line to take his second win of the year.
That gave the two Reiter Vattana Motorsport drivers a win each from the weekend and after they claimed a victory apiece in the season opener back in May Khun Chonsawat and Khun Tomáš continue to jointly lead the provisional Drivers’ championship standings at the halfway stage of the Class 1-GT3 season, with two wins and two runners up spots each.
Making it a perfect afternoon’s work for the experienced Vattana Team Owner, Khun Chonsawat also set the fastest lap of the race in 1:38.052. Counting back to Bangsaen, Reiter Vattana Motorsport has now won six consecutive Super Car Class 1-GT3 races, four of those going to the Camaro GT3 and two to the Gallardo Extenso R-EX.
“It was an interesting race with three Safety Cars within 15 laps, that’s quite a big number,” Khun Tomáš said afterwards. “As the track was slippery we were making little mistakes and we both made mistakes to get ahead of each other, but with the Safety Car [periods] we didn’t have that much of a chance to race each other. It was a fun day and a fun weekend.”
The Czech was also keen to emphasise the strength in depth of a team that operates like a well-oiled machine. “We had an amazing weekend again, we have a very successful team with strong mechanics and they’re giving us great racecars so we can succeed and bring the joy back to the garage.”
Khun Tomáš reckons that the team is now one unit and the Thai staff are now integral to turning out racecars that can go on to win. “I have to say the Thai mechanics are able to handle the cars as well as the Reiter mechanics, for me there is no difference,” he said.
“They have been working on those cars for several years now and a few years ago they have been in our factory for learning courses [where] we teach them all the details about the car and all the experience they have gained over the last two years makes them real professional mechanics so they can deal with complex and demanding machines such as GT3 cars,” he added.
Meanwhile Khun Umar nailed down another third place finish on Sunday afternoon in the #14 Gallardo GT3 FL2 and that made it four consecutive times this year he’s been on the podium in that position, a very consistent run from this driver who is also racing internationally in single-seaters this year.
Super Car Class 2-GTM: Sunday
The final Class 2-GTM race of the weekend was dominated by the appearance of the Safety Car three times to deal with on track incidents and that split up the green flag running periods. It meant the action was compressed into bursts and drivers had to be fully aware of the unfolding situations and to react quickly in order to capitalise.
At the end of the race, which finished with a quick dash of just a few hundred metres to the line as the Safety Car ducked back into the pitlane, Khun Kantasak ended up the winner when the dust had finally settled on a stormy race.
When the race had in fact started 15 laps earlier, the polesitter for a second race consecutive race, Khun Jack, had controlled the pack into the first turn with Khun Kantasak slotting in just behind and at that very early point it was already looking like it could well turn out to be a carbon copy of the previous day’s race. Behind them the second row sitters, Khun Henk and Khun Akihiro, tucked in while Khun Pitsanu, Khun Craig and Khun Kazuya followed them.
It didn’t stay that way for long though as Khun Henk gave up ground on the first lap while right at the front the race leader, Khun Jack, started to loose power within a few hundred metres of the start and by the time the pack came out of the final turn Khun Kantasak and Khun Jack’s teammate Khun Akihiro had both powered past the white Lamborghini while the big Holden also overtook on the rundown to Turn 1.
The Safety Car then appeared and that immediately settled down the frantic opening race sequence. When the race went back to green lights Khun Akihiro nipped past Khun Kantasak to assume the lead and it would be one he would never relinquish despite later appearances by the Safety Car. However after the race the Japanese driver was docked by the Stewards for an infringement, moved to P2, and that gave Khun Kantasak the win.
A victory and a runners up spot were two excellent results for the new young signing by Singha Motorsport Team Thailand and it elevates Khun Kantasak, who bagged a win at the season opener back in May, into the provisional championship lead at the halfway point. The Class 2-GTM race result though is currently provisional.
He might not have won in the end, but Khun Akihiro is certainly back in business. The 2011 Super Car N/A and 2014 Super Car Class 3-GTC champion is running in Class 2-GTM this year and after a torrid time at the season opener followed by a lap one visit to the pits in last Saturday’s opening race the Japanese driver showed a real turn of pace during Sunday’s final race of the weekend. Once this driver-car combination is fully honed then Khun Akihiro is going to become one of the potent forces in the chase for victories.
Third place across the line was Khun Craig, the big New Zealander claiming his second P3 finish of the weekend and that consistency elevates him into second place in the provisional championship standings.
Fourth place went to Khun Kazuya in the first of the Toyota 86s to reach the line. Another highly impressive performance from the Japanese driver gave him two podiums out of two and his input has helped to galvanise the challenge from the factory team.
Despite loosing engine grunt Khun Jack clung on for fifth place and the final step of the podium in the #44 Vattana Lamborghini. Switching to the Gallardo LP520 last weekend brought Khun Jack instant success. Although he arrived in Buriram last week with a zero points score from the season opener, a P1 and a P5 get his championship points tally up and running.
Sixth went to Khun Daniel in the #27 Porsche, the first of the German sportscars home. After his very early exit in the first race the Australian enjoyed a promising start in Sunday’s final race and chipped his way up the order to finish P6. “After the disappointment of Race 1, Race 2 was a welcome change,” the B-Quik driver said afterwards. “A great start meant we jumped several positions in the first few corners.
“Settling into a solid fast pace, I carved through a few more positions and took advantage of the close battles holding up some of the faster cars,” Khun Daniel continued. “It was really pleasing to pull off some aggressive overtaking moves on cars which had been faster than us all week. The Safety Car at the end meant we couldn’t attack further, just when a top three position was becoming a real possibility. Overall, I was very happy with Race 2 as it showed we have the fight in us to take it to the faster cars under race conditions.”
Seventh position went to Khun Will Bamber who was a late substitute in the #77 Team NZ Porsche for the final race of the weekend, the New Zealander deputising for Khun Graeme who had raced the car on the Saturday but came down with a fever overnight. The younger brother of 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, Porsche factory driver Khun Earl Bamber, Khun Will drove a very tidy race to move up to P7 by the finish.
Eighth place went to Khun Pitsanu, the same position he had finished the previous day. He has two trouble free races in his second run in his new 991, although he admitted that he was struggling somewhat with straight-line speed. “Other cars have more power,” he said afterwards. “I can only compete in the corners but when it reaches the straight or fast corners they are gone. I’m enjoying driving this car a lot [but] a there’s lot to improve [for] both car and driver.”
Khun Shuipang had a neat and tidy second race to finish P9 in the #60 Painkiller Racing Porsche. The top ten was wrapped up by Khun Manat, the Toyota driver was also the final classified finisher, and all cars completed the race on the lead lap.
The DNFs started with Khun Nattavude who was the first to disappear, out after a single lap in the #39 Toyota, then came Khun Sarun in the #55 Porsche, he lost his transmission early on, Khun Voravud’s #1 Ferrari retired on the seventh lap while Khun Aekarat in the A Motorsport Porsche was also gone a lap later.
Finally, Khun Henk dropped out in the B-Quik Racing Audi with four laps of the race still to go. Meanwhile other commitments meant that Khun Bhurit’s grey and black Ferrari 458 Challenge was a non-starter in Sunday’s race.