If you talk to the teams ahead of a GT Asia Series event, you receive the same casual banter about how little you can read from unofficial practice, however with the 2015 title on the line at Buriram in Thailand this weekend, Thursday’s two one-hour sessions at times more than resembled a qualifying race, with some very interesting results..

Ultimately the advantage on day one went to the Absolute Racing Bentley team, with all three of the thunderous Bentley Continental GT3s in the top five, with title challengers Keita Sawa and Adderly Fong leading the charge.

In the end though, FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren 650S GT3 drivers Andrea Caldarelli and Alvaro Parente split the three Bentleys, with all five separated by six tenths of a second, with second to Carlo Van Dam in sixth place, separated by just fifteen one hundredths of a second, such was the pace at the front of the field.

Sure there were different strategies being played out. Some were circulating on older tyres (the #8 Sawa/Fong Bentley employing new tyres late in session two to set the benchmark time), whilst other teams elected to spend limited time with their ‘Pro’ drivers in the car to concentrate on getting their amateur driver up to speed.

“What does being on top this early in the weekend mean, probably not too much, however I think there’s a psychological advantage,” Adderly Fong admitted matter-of-factly. “Sawa-san and I have been in this position before, so we’re pretty relaxed about it, and whilst it’s nice to lead the championship coming into a final event, I also think there’s less pressure being the chaser and not the chasee..”

For points leader Darryl O’Young, his ninth-placed best, just over a second off his title rivals clearly wasn’t an indication of what we’ll see in qualifying, as there was little fuss or concern down in the Craft-Bamboo Racing team garage.

“Sure I’m thinking about the championship, but to an extent you also have to treat it like any other event,” O’Young admitted. “The focus will be on maximising our points haul without getting involved in anything silly, so yes, we will be strategic.”

For the third team in the title battle, BBT Racing’s Anthony Liu and Davide Rizzo, they too were fairly casual during unofficial practice, however the team – along with Spirit of Race team-mates Jiang Xin and Max Wiser – had been to Buriram the week prior to the round to gain valuable laps and knowledge of the circuit.

“I think between us, Jiang Xin and I carded 500-kilometres,” Wiser admitted.

Whilst the #37 BBT Ferrari was notably absent from the top of the time sheets during Thursday’s two sessions, they didn’t turn a large amount of laps, however Wiser showed how strong the team could be, punching out a top three time in session one, before handing the car across to Xin to complete the bulk of session two.”

One of the new teams into GT Asia that figured prominently during the two one-hour sessions, was the Reiter Vattana Lamborghini operation led by former F1 driver Tomas Enge, the Czech a regular at Buriram, and he is also the man who holds the fastest GT3 lap time on the 4.554-kilometre circuit; 1:32.960.

“I’ve done quite a few miles around here,” Enge admitted. “It’s an interesting circuit, but not quite as simple as it looks.

“Our pace is good, and I’m enjoying the challenge of racing with some of my former open-wheel rivals, guys who are at the top of their game in GT, but whilst we want to be competitive this weekend, I don’t want to get mixed up in a championship battle, so we’ll be there I’m sure, but I’d like to leave the title contenders to take their battle all the way to the finish.”

Friday will see a repeat of Thursday’s two one-hour practice sessions, with a third 30-minute session for ‘Bronze’ classified drivers, ahead of Saturday morning’s two 15-minute qualifiers and the opening 60-minute race on Saturday afternoon.

With just 16 points separating the top three title contenders, there is plenty to play for this weekend, with a number of drivers expecting fireworks..

“I think it’s going to be an interesting weekend with how close the championship title rivals are,” recently crowned Blancpain Endurance Series champion Matt Griffin admitted, however the Clearwater Racing regular explained he had a different agenda for the weekend, and would be taking advantage of the battle for the title.

“We’re out to win both races, plain and simple. I’m in the #1 car with Weng [Mok Weng Sun] this weekend, and we want to hand over our title crown as race winners this year after what has been a mixed season for the team, so I’ll be making sure I can take advantage of any of the battles at the front to get that result for Clearwater.”

With temperatures again expected to be clear and in the mid-30s, the heat will certainly be on at Buriram as we head towards the conclusion of the 2015 championship.

WHERE TO WATCH
All the action will be played out online this weekend, with Twitter, Facebook and the new GT Asia Series website hosting information, images and video from every day, whilst on Saturday and Sunday, both races will be broadcast live. All details will be available via; www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries and on the www.gtasiaseries.com website

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Rnd#10/11 – 2015 GT Asia Series
Buriram United International Circuit, Thailand
Combined times – Unofficial practice (22 October, 2015)
1. 8. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (Absolute Bentley GT3) – 1:33.024 [P2]
2. 5. Andrea Caldarelli/Fu Songyang (FFF Racing McLaren GT3)
 – 1:33.547 [P2]
3. 55. Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Alvaro Parente (FFF Racing McLaren GT3) – 1:33.609 [P2]
4. 7. Jeffrey Lee/Alexandre Imperatori (Absolute Bentley GT3)
- 1:33.667 [P2]
5. 77. Duncan Tappy/Benny Simonsen (Absolute Bentley Continental)
- 1:33.676 [P2]
6. 12. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi/Carlo Van Dam (Singha Ferrari 458) – 1:33.705 [P2]
7. 88. Frank Yu/Richard Lyons (Craft-Bamboo Aston Martin) – 1:33.876 [P2]
8. 28. Tomas Enge/Narasak Ittiritpong (Reiter Vattana Gallardo R-EX) – 1:34.076 [P2]
9. 99. Darryl O’Young/Daniel Lloyd (Craft-Bamboo Aston) – 1:34.083 [P2]
10. 1. Mok Weng Sun/Matt Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari) – 1:34.248 [P2]
11. 9. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 GT3) – 1:34.357 [P2]
12. 37. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (BBT Ferrari 458 GT3) – 1:34.743 [P1]
13. 11. Richard Wee/Hiroki Katoh (Clearwater Racing Ferrari) – 1:35.348 [P2]
14. 86. Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy (OD Racing Gallardo GT3) – 1:36.077 [P2]
15. 22. Kimihiro Yashiro/Yuu Nakamura (Gulf JP Porsche GT3-R) – 1:36.443 [P2]
16. 23. Jerry Wang (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3)* – 1:37.387 [P2]
17. 89. Kantasak Kusiri/Voravud Bhirom Bhakdi (Singha Ferrari 458)* – 1:38.007 [P2]
18. 59. Benjamin Rouget/Bhurit Bhirom Bhakdi (Singha Ferrari 458)* – 1:38.881 [P1]
19. 20. Dylan Derdaele/Hasashi Kunie (Gulf JP Porsche 991 GT3 Cup)* – 1:39.160 [P2]
20. 21. Discharoen/Pinet Piyaoui (A Motorsport Co Porsche Cup)* – 1:40.155 [P1]
21. 69. James Cai/Kenneth Lim (Golden CMT RT Ferrari Challenge)* – 1:40.429 [P2]
22. 39. Nattavude/Nattapong (Toyota Team Thailand 86)* – 1:41.482 [P1]
*GTM Class

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2015 GT Asia Series – Championship points
GT3 Class (after round nine of 11)
1. Darryl O’Young (127-points), 2. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (123), 3. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (111) 4. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi (95), 5. Carlo Van Dam (85), 6. Mok Weng Sun (70), 7. Duncan Tappy (68), 8. Daniel Lloyd (64), 9. Jonathan Venter (63), 10. Richard Wee (60), 11. Richard Lyons/Frank Yu (58), 12. Hiroshi Hamaguchi (54), 13. Jeffrey Lee (53), 14. Jacky Yeung (52), 15. Matt Griffin (51), 16. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (45), 17. Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy (44), 18. Vitantonio Liuzzi (38), 19. James Calado (36), 20. Toni Vilander, Fu Songyang (25), 21. Andy Meyrick (21), 22. Dilantha Malkagamuwa/Kota Sasaki (19), 23. Andrea Caldarelli (17), 24. Alvaro Parente, Andy Soucek, Jean-Karl Vernay, Andrew Kim (16), 25. Dominic Ang/Adrian D’Silva (14), 20. Naoki Yokomizo (10)

GTM Class (after round nine of 11)
1. Jerry Wang (130-points), 2. Hisashi Kunie (94), 3. Takuma Aoki/Ken Urata (61), 4. Kenneth Lim/James Cai (59), 5. Kimihiro Yashiro (58), 6. Craig Liu (50), 7. Dylan Derdaele (38), 8. Warren Luff (36), 9. Tetsuya Makino, Ryo Fukuda (34), 10. Melvin Moh/Keong Wee Lim, Keiichi Mori (32), 11. Keong Liam Lim/Nigel Farmer (28), 12. K.S. Wang (26), 13. George Chou/Robert Lee (18), 14. Shogo Mitsuyama (10)

The GT Asia Series is sanctioned by the FIA as an International Series and is clearly recognised as the Region’s leading GT Championship. It is jointly managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and the Supercar Club Hong Kong and is backed by Michelin, GRAHAM London, KW Automotive, Motul, Auto Art, Race Room, Panta and SEL.