The second season of Super Car Class 3-GTC wound to a conclusion of the streets of Bangsaen last month with two exciting races as the ‘third’ category in the ‘Super Car’ portfolio continues to establish itself as not just a capable feeder but as an exciting sportscar racing platform in its own right. Two gripping races that ebbed and flowed from green flag to checkered flag eventually added two new names to the roll call of winners for the year.
There races were doubly explosive because at the same time the destiny of the title was playing out with the second ever Class 3-GTC champion being crowned at the end of the weekend’s concluding race. And it was a highly deserved winner too. Khun Grant Supaphong rarely has the car to match his unquestioned talent and that was the same story this year when his fast but fragile Mitsubishi Evo X expired on several occasions costing him valuable helpings of points.
But when it’s worked Khun Grant has been pretty much unstoppable and a run of four maximum scores from the six races so far this year set him up for the season closer with the title his to loose, only his teammate, Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen, and Mazda driver Khun Thanapol Thongchua could wrest the title away if they scored highly and Khun Grant picked up no scores.
That scenario then – almost inevitably – played out over the opening days and closed up the gaps. Khun Grant’s Evo made it hard work for the driver once again, expiring in qualifying and then suffering another engine problem in first race. But in the second race the patched up car – and literally the engine had been patched up as no spare units were available – made it to the line in third place, Khun Grant carefully nursing the car into the points, and that was good enough to allow him to wrap up his first Super Car title.
Aside from the destination of the title, Bangsaen always has the last say with winners and there were two new names added to the Super Car Class 3-GTC roll call for 2015. The first race was won by Khun Chayut Yangpichit who had looked to be in a class of his own during qualifying and proceeded to run away with the race, while in the second Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen took his first ever Super Car win, in what is his second season in ‘GTC’, the well established ‘drift’ superstar continuing to make light of the theory that sideways racers usually struggle to adapt to the circuits.
He’s rapidly becoming something of a ‘Bangsaen specialist’, with five appearances so far that have netted five pole positions and five victories. And in each of those victories, two that were earned last year and a further three this year; he’s not been headed in any of those races either. That’s Darryl O’Young. And the category he’s made his own in Bangsaen is Super Car Class 2-GTM, arguably the most competitive, professional and hard fought discipline in Thai motorsport history.
Super Car Class 3-GTC: Saturday (Race 1 of 2)
The grid for the first race, the penultimate of the year, saw Khun Chayut on pole after the TT Motorsport Mitsubishi Evo X driver set a best lap in 1:50.764 that was almost five seconds quicker than the next car, which was Khun Grant, albeit the championship leader’s time was posted in a car that had PU issues even before he had got up to full qualifying speed. However, thanks to those problems, Khun Grant would require an engine change and the resulting penalty slid him down to the tail end of the grid.
That put Khun Thanapol Thongchua in the #17 Rotary Revolution Mazda RX-8 onto the front row as this car gets faster and faster over the second half of the season. Row 2 was led out by Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen in the second Krating Daeng Racing Team entry, the #9 Nissan Skyline R32, and Toyota Team Thailand owner Khun Suttipong Smittachartch in the #19 factory-entered Toyota 86 while Row 3 saw the pretty A Motorsport-supported #71 Subaru BRZ driven by Khun Kraingkrai Woraratanatham line up alongside the equally beautiful #13 Mazda RX-7 of Khun Narin Yensuk.
At the green lights Khun Chayut got a neat and tidy getaway to lead the pack through the first kink and he continued to keep in command into Turn 2. Alongside him though Khun Thanapol had a tardy getaway while Khun Daychapon who was tucked up tight behind the pole sitter got a slingshot and jumped the Mazda, slamming the door as they braked into Turn 2 to move into P2 as the cars thundered up the hill for the first time. Behind the front three Khun Suttipong held onto fourth, Khun Naputt Assakul had a fast start in the Ginetta G55 to climb ahead of Khun Narin into fifth place while Khun Grant also pipped the pink Mazda into Turn 2 to take sixth place. Having a difficult start was Khun Kraingkrai who dropped to the tail of the field.
The top three started to spread out over the opening lap and as the pack crossed the start-finish line for the first time Khun Chayut had opened out a couple of seconds over Khun Daychapon while Khun Thanapol had dropped back a similar distance. The main action first time around was Khun Grant swarming all over the back of the #6 Ginetta as the championship points leader eyed up P5 and he nipped through as the pair ran down from the chicane to Turn 11.
A lap later Khun Grant squeezed past Khun Suttipong into P4 to improve further his on the road’ points standing; however his excellent flying run came to an abrupt end with more engine problems and he pulled over in the mountain section and retired on the fourth lap. In fact that lap would signal the end of the Krating Daeng team’s interest in the race as Khun Daychapon, who was still running P2, slowed with a damaged turbo and injector problems and would pit the next lap to retire.
Meanwhile Khun Naputt was right on the tail of the #19 Toyota of Khun Suttipong who wasn’t able to match the pace of the midfielders and as the Ginetta tried to find a way past Khun Sontaya Kunplome in the #8 Porsche also closed up and a three car battle ensured. Both would find a way past the Toyota, on the third and fourth lap respectively, the Ginetta powering ahead through Turn 1 and the Porsche following through at exactly the same point a lap later.
The Safety Car was however deployed at this point to rescue Khun Grant’s stricken Evo and that closed the pack up, wiping out the handsome lead that Khun Chayut had built up. Behind the #29 Evo it was Khun Thanapol from Khun Naputt who moved into third place and was the big winner from the caution period as it allowed him to close the gap up to the Mazda, which had been a long way in front.
When the race went back to green flag running at the start of the seventh lap Khun Chayut got the hammer down again and romped away again, in fact for the second half of the race he would disappear into the distance, despite being pegged back yet again following a second Safety Car period, and after 15 laps he took the checkered flag for a victory that had been something of a formality. That was his first Class 3-GTC win of the year and his second altogether as he won in Buriram last year, also with the same car.
From the restart Khun Naputt was all over the back of Khun Thanapol round the first green flag lap and he went down the outside through Turn 1 on the second lap after the Safety Car had gone in, however the pair collided and hit the barriers, first on the outside and then spinning across the track to the inside. The Ginetta was out on the spot with damage on both sides while the Mazda got going again and continued despite visible signs of contact. Khun Sontaya and Khun Suttipong however both dived through before Khun Thanapol got going and recovered his pace and that dropped him to P4. That incident played into Khun Grant’s hands as his serious rival for the crown had now dropped 5 provisional points ‘on the road’.
The Safety Car was deployed again to allow the damaged Ginetta to be rescued and at the green lights Khun Thanapol shadowed the #19 Toyota, before passing him within a lap to move into P3 and in the process reclaiming 2 points in the championship battle.
That was it for the action and Khun Chayut duly took the checkered flag having built up a handy seven-second advantage over the final few laps of the race. Khun Sontaya kept it tidy, enjoyed a relatively quiet race and was rewarded with second place while, despite visible damage all round his car, Khun Thanapol claimed P3.
Fourth place went to Khun Suttipong while the final podium step was collected by Khun Narin who had a tidy afternoon and was always on the back of the action. The Chiang Mai driver was thus rewarded with a trophy for his efforts. The final finisher was the Subaru of Khun Kraingkrai; this was his first race in Bangsaen and he kept it steady, learning as he went, to come home in P6, one lap down.
Super Car Class 3-GTC: Sunday (Race 2 of 2)
Khun Grant’s DNF in the first race meant the championship was still wide open and Khun Thanapol’s efforts to get his damaged car to the finishline in P3 gave him 12 points and that moved him to just 10 points away from the top of the classification – with 20 points still on offer from the second race. Mathematically, Khun Daychapon and Khun Sontaya were still in with a shot of the title, but their chances were very slender indeed. Effectively it was Khun Grant versus Khun Thanapol for the crown and all to play for over the most tricky and demanding circuit in Thailand.
And it was looking a little bit iffy for the championship leader – his PU problems during qualifying and into the first race had really caught up with him. “I had no spare engine so [we] just put the old set of pistons in the engine [overnight],” Khun Grant revealed. “I couldn’t use more than 5,500 rpm from normally almost 8,000 rpm, so I planned just to finish in top four.”
That would be good enough for the title as the gap between the two was 10 points and with the maximum for winning the final race being 20 points that meant a helping of 10 points would be enough as even if Khun Grant finished on equal points with Khun Thanapol, a scenario if the Mazda driver could win the race, he would be declared the champion on countback.
Even before the start lights turned green the race lost the previous day’s winner as Khun Chayut’s Evo suffered a sensor problem and was withdrawn. With Khun Grant down at the back of the grid it was Khun Thanapol and Khun Naputt who disputed the lead into Turn 1, although there would be no reprise of their coming together the day before and the green and black Mazda safely led the pack up into the mountain section for the first time with the #6 Ginetta slotting in behind.
Khun Daychapon settled into P3 although he took a good look down the inside of Khun Naputt through Turn 2 but the Ginetta had the position covered. Then came Khun Suttipong, Khun Sontaya and Khun Narin with Khun Grant next up and taking it very cautiously over the opening lap.
Over the opening lap Khun Naputt had been swarming all over the back of the race leading Mazda but into the second tour of the 3.7-km circuit there was contact and he spun at Turn 2 and several cars dived past before he got the Ginetta going again, dropping down in-between Khun Suttipong and Khun Narin. The first lap also saw Khun Sontaya pressurising Khun Suttipong for P4 and he would be into the place by the end of the lap and that quickly became P3 a couple of turns later as Khun Naputt dropped back.
Despite the front of the Ginetta looking a mess with the diffuser dragging on the ground and some of the front end bodywork flapping Khun Naputt was back into P3 as he outbraked Khun Suttipong into the S2 Bangsaen Hotel Hairpin as the third to sixth cars ran together with Khun Narin and Khun Grant right behind. A couple of turns later Khun Narin nipped past Khun Suttipong as they went into the second lap and the #13 Mazda was up to P5.
Khun Grant didn’t wait long either to take his chance to get past Khun Suttipong, powering alongside as the pair came out of the chicane and outbraking the Toyota into Turn 11. That put him into P6 and with Khun Thanapol currently in P1, Khun Grant would need to make up two more places to win the title – as it stood ‘on the road’ the #17 Mazda driver was now the championship points leader – but there was a long way still to go.
Khun Naputt was setting the pace of the race now and into the fourth lap he moved up to P3 at the expense of Khun Sontaya, moving past through Turn 1. A lap later and Khun Grant, who had by now closed in on the back of the pink #13 Mazda, dived down the inside into the S2 Bangsaen Hotel Hairpin and nipped up to P5. He needed just one more place to be assured of the title, as it stood ‘on the road’ Khun Thanapol was ahead – just. But that pendulum swing in his favour didn’t last long though as Khun Narin used the power available to his Mazda over the more restricted Mitsubishi to surge past a couple of turns later and back into P5, demoting the Evo to P6.
But a few corners later Khun Grant outbraked the Mazda into Turn 11 and with a tight section of the track ahead of him he had the opportunity to gain some vital ground before the Mazda could play again to its strengths and by the time the pair braked for the lefthander at Laem Tan Cape he had broken Khun Narin’s challenge and could look towards the last place he needed to be sure of clinching the title. However the Evo’s PU was clearly puffing out wisps of smoke so it remained to be seen how long it was going to last.
The Krating Daeng team had another card to play as Khun Grant’s teammate Khun Daychapon closed up on the race leader shadowing him for several laps before they traded places a couple of times with the Skyline driver finally breaking clear in the lead on the ninth lap. With Khun Thanapol now dropping back to a 15 point score ‘on the road’ for the first time in the race Khun Grant was back at the top of the provisional classification, albeit with a very slender 3 point margin.
Then the championship gap widened a little more within a few turns as the same lap saw the Ginetta start to stutter and drop back. Khun Grant quickly picked off the British sportscar to move up to P4. That was all he had needed for the title before the race irrespective of other results and moving up to P3 a lap later at the expense of Khun Sontaya meant that ‘on the road’ Khun Grant was now in command of the points standings, the pendulum now swinging a relatively comfortable 7 points in his direction.
It would remain that way until the flag and Khun Daychapon was able to ease out an eight second cushion over Khun Thanapol by the end of the 14 lapper. It was Khun Daychapon’s first ever Super Car win and there was more good news for the Krating Daeng team to come, 29.930 seconds later to be precise, as that’s when Khun Grant crossed the finishline in P3 to claim the Drivers’ championship title. In fact with the Teams’ title already fully assured it had turned out to be a great weekend for the Krating Daeng team.
In between the two black-coloured Krating Daeng cars Khun Thanapol came home in P2 and that secured him the runners’ up spot in the championship. The Rotary Revolution built RX-8 has come on very strongly as the season has progressed, adding more and more speed to its inherent reliability, and that result gave Khun Thanapol his sixth straight podium finish, with three of those being second places. With Khun Narin safely bringing home the #13 RX-7, both ‘rotary’ cars finished in the top six and clearly this team is looking likely to be one of the strongest players in Class 3-GTC next year.
Fourth place went to Khun Sontaya and combined with his P3 the day before it represented his best weekend since the season opener back in May. Khun Naputt nursed the Ginetta home in fifth place to bag the final podium position and enjoy some reward after a tough weekend as well as grabbing a decent result for his crew as they had worked hard overnight to fix the damaged car.
Thus the second Class 3-GTC title has gone to Khun Grant and he succeeds the inaugural category winner, Khun Akihiro Asai in 2014, who stepped up to Class 2-GTM this year. Khun Grant finished the year with 92 points, 7 points clear of Khun Thanapol who has enjoyed a real career upsurge this season. Thanks to his first win in the category Khun Daychapon is third in the final standings on 81 points while early season classification leader Khun Sontaya comes home fourth with 76 points.
Five out of five
He’s rapidly becoming something of a ‘Mr. Bangsaen’ with five appearances so far that have netted five pole positions and five victories. And in each of those victories, two that were earned last year and a further three this year; he’s not been headed in any of those races either. That’s Darryl O’Young. And the category he’s made his own in Bangsaen is Super Car Class 2-GTM, arguably the most competitive, professional and hard fought discipline in Thai motorsport history.
Last year B-Quik Racing drafted the Hong Kong ‘pro’ driver into its Bangsaen line up and he delivered two wins out of two in the team’s Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. For this year’s edition of the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival the car’s regular driver throughout the season, Khun Daniel Bilski, was unavailable due to a clashing commitment.
This year there were to be three races in Class 2-GTM for the first time ever, making it an even more hectic and demanding schedule than usual and this time around Khun Darryl continued to excel as he made it three wins out of three.
Khun Darryl certainly has exemplary street racing form; he’s become synonymous with Macau and is a multiple winner in the former Portuguese principality, as well as having raced on other iconic street circuits, such as the famous Monaco F1 track, in a long and rewarding career.
He also came into the Bangsaen week in tip-top form having just clinched the 2015 GT Asia Series title. In fact he arrived in Bangsaen straight from Macau where the weekend before he had contested the inaugural FIA GT World Cup event driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Craft-Bamboo Racing.
The first – and the ‘extra’ – race took place late on the Friday afternoon and Khun Darryl had made it one win already by the time the now six-day event clocked its way into the weekend. By late on the Saturday afternoon he had made it two out of two and with just one more race to go the next day Khun Darryl had time to stop and reflect.
Although he admitted the standards have risen in Class 2-GTM since last year and he was pushed by our top domestic stars, improvements to the car, a step forward by the team and his greater familiarity around the 3.7 km street circuit as this was his second year in Bangsaen, were all key factors that had helped him cement his grip on P1.
“B-Quik did a good job this weekend preparing the car so once I got in it I was really comfortable and just where I was last year,” he said. “I’ve got more track knowledge now, there were some changes here and there but they are mainly safety changes which are a big improvement for the circuit so I’m really glad the organisers’ are continuing to improve the track which is really good for Thai motorsport.”
Khun Darryl explained that there had been a build up of pressure as the races had progressed – particularly from the Vattana Motorsport-entered Lamborghini Gallardo LP520 of Khun Jack Lemvard, which had closed right in on his tail before exiting the race in somewhat spectacular style. “The first race went pretty smooth, there wasn’t too much pressure from the pack behind but in Race 2 there was a big difference,” he said. “In the first race Voravud [Bhirombhakdi] started at the back which took away some competition but today the Lamborghini [of Khun Jack] was very fast off the start.
“He was able to catch up to me and I had to push hard to stay in front of him but he made a mistake, it looked like his tyres were dropping off a bit, and the Safety Car came out,” Khun Darryl continued. “After the restart Voravud was driving really well and I had to push really hard to keep the lead.”
Khun Darryl also pointed out the wide variety of characteristics enjoyed by the diverse entry of cars in Class 2-GTM meant variable strengths and for him the #27 Porsche, one of the older cars amongst the front-runners, certainly had some weak points to overcome around Bangsaen.
“As you can see in Class 2 some cars are quite different, there are different characteristics of each car so certain areas are faster for different cars and certain areas are stronger,” he explained. “For me the brakes are where we are losing as this is a 2007 ‘Cup’ car so the brakes compared to the newer cars is one of the main areas, so they are catching a lot up under the brakes but we’re able to get good exits off the corner in the Porsche so that’s good. So all in all I’m very pleased.”
This is a driver who has raced on many of the most renown temporary circuits in the world so he’s very well placed to offer an opinion on Bangsaen. “Every street circuit has its own characteristics and Bangsaen has its own,” he says. “It’s quite technical, there are a lot of areas where you really have to challenge yourself to drive well and also it’s quite narrow which means you can’t make any mistakes.
“In the first race I made a small mistake and almost touched the wall,” he added. “So you have to always keep reminding yourself that this track is very narrow and to drive to the limit here isn’t easy but I think there still can be improvements.”
In Sunday’s final race Khun Darryl went on to make it three wins from three races for the weekend. And – somewhat ominously for his rivals – he’s rapidly growing to love the event and this year’s second appearance very likely won’t be the last time we see him. “I’m really glad to be back again and hopefully I can be back again next year,” he said.
But this year he was pushed hard for the first time, next year expect another big stride forward in every area for Class 2-GTM – so if he makes a third visit to Bangsaen that might involve a lot more hard work for Khun Darryl and that’s certainly something the fans in the grandstands will really relish seeing play out.