It’s been hot and hectic in the North East so far this week and the Thailand Super Series (TSS) action certainly has been intense. Everything has gone up a gear this year and that starts with the track action as the racecars were banging in laps as early as Tuesday, which was also the day that marked the first ever laps here for the brand new TCR Thailand format.

From there on it wound up to an intensive Friday where official practice in the morning was followed by all the qualifying sessions in the afternoon – and even a race – as Super Car GTM, the headline racing category in Thailand, kicked off a busy ‘triple header’ weekend with a ferocious 14 lap encounter that set the new season off in real style and gave a mouthwatering taster of an action packed weekend that’s going to play out intensively over the next 48 hours.

Qualifying across all the categories was hectic, from the entry level ‘Super Eco’ cars, reserved for very limited modification 1200cc racecars where budding drivers can hone their skills, all the way through to Super Car GTM, which took another big stride forward in every aspect, absolute professionalism and skills from both teams and drivers is a prerequisite to any chance of success.

And then there was the first race of the weekend, for Super Car GTM, which will have a ‘triple header’ here. One down, two to go. It was a real cracker and a superb way to kick the new season off, it had drama and action from start to finish and when the top order very briefly looked like settling down mid race that didn’t last long.

It also had a first ever Super Car win for Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul as well as a first ever win for the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo LP620-2 (on its Thai racing debut) – and that’s what the ‘Super Car’ format is all about, constant moving forward and upwards, new drivers, new cars and new teams with big ambitions challenging the established order.

And then just as everyone trudged away from the podium after a long and baking hot day – the rain that had been threatening for some time to unleash itself came lashing down, that too was inch perfect timing. In fact it rained hard overnight and early Saturday morning ushered in a damp circuit, so rain could be a further factor in the upcoming mix.

*note: results are provisional.

Qualifying:  Super Car GTM

Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul had turned in a blistering pace throughout the untimed sessions earlier in the week and he carried that scintillating form straight into the qualifying session. No one could touch the white Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo LP620-2 as he dropped into the mid 37s around the circuit in the rising midday temperatures. He went straight to the top of the timesheets early on and stayed there has the hour ticked away.

The big surprise of the session was the return to front running form of the factory Toyota 86s and it was Khun Nattavude Charoensukhawatana who took the early fight to the Lamborghini on the timesheets. The hugely experienced driver banged in a 1:38.124 to move into provisional P2 quite early in the session.

The Toyota has had major revisions for this year led out by a change to push rod suspension and that has improved the dynamics of this Thai-developed car at a stroke. The team has also made changes to the bodyshell to reduce weight and the front aerodynamics have been upgraded and include a big new radiator. Those changes seem to have paid off and Khun Nattavude, who lost running time the previous day waiting for replacement parts to arrive, looked to be right back in the game. He would be tipped down the order a couple of places by the B-Quik drivers though, to the end of the session still in an excellent P4. His teammate Khun Nattapong Horthongkum continued that good work by posting the seventh fastest time.

As the qualifying session moved into the final quarter of an hour and the track started going away from the drivers, the Audis, which has encountered traffic on their early runs, bucked the settling down of the timesheets and came into their own, Khun Daniel Bilski and Khun Henk J. Kiks moving into P2 and P3 respectively, closing the gap to the Lamborghini down to three tenths of a second, the two B-Quik Racing R8’s separated by a matter of a couple of hundredths of a second.

As the session wound to a conclusion Khun Sarun put pole beyond doubt by raising the bar further to become the only driver to dip below the 1:37s, his best lap in 1:36.720 being unmatched by anyone. It was his first ever pole position in Super Car, as he kicks off his third Super Car season, and choosing the Huracán to replace his 997 seems to been a shrewd move that’s paying off already.

B-Quik Racing was also back in business and after a strong pre season test at Bira Circuit the team had arrived here quietly confident and ready to get the job done, running two R8s for the first time as Khun Daniel graduates from the team’s venerable Porsche. The two Audi drivers could barely be spilt during qualifying, Khun Daniel’s best was a 1:37.863 and Khun Henk’s a 1:37.884, and that set them up superbly in P2 and P3 on the grid for the afternoon’s first race.

Khun Nattavude joined Khun Henk on the outside of the second row and while Row 3 was led out by the reigning GTM champion, Khun Kantasak Kusiri, who struggled to match the fast times being set by the Audi, Lamborghini and Toyota drivers and was batted down to P5 as the session went into the closing 10 minutes. However he was just half a second off the two Audis and only three tenths off the Toyota so there was plenty to come in the race.

Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi made it an all-Ferrari third row as he closed up during the final minutes of the session to record a time only four-tenths away from his teammate. That meant Row 3 was an all GTM champions row, the pair having divided up the title between them for the last two years. However they clearly needed to find more pace for the race if they were to get their title defence off to a flying start.

Khun Nattapong planted his Toyota on the fourth row and alongside him was the first of the Porsche runners, the new-generation 991 of Khun Aekarat Discharoen, who posted at 1:39.018 that bested the fastest time set by the ‘gold’ 991 of Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem by just two tenths of a second. These two drivers have experience in the car from last year to call upon as they look to make progress.

The top ten was wrapped up by the Holden Commodore VE of Khun Craig Corliss. That wasn’t where last year’s championship runner up wanted to be but he’s had a few issues to overcome during the week that have put him on the backfoot. The New Zealander has drafted in racing legend Khun Craig Baird to help him this week and he was looking for better pace from the race.

Then in fact came another New Zealander, Khun Shaun Varney, who is debuting in B-Quik’s Porsche 997 and a tidy session saw this young driver, on what was his first time racing in Thailand, turn in a 1:40.229 best lap that would see him lead out the sixth row. Alongside him would be another ‘997’ and although Khun Pinet Piyaoui lost a lot of track time when he beached his #21 Porsche on the outside of Turn 5, however, with the session being 1-hour long, there was plenty of time for the recovery truck to return the car to the garage and for him to get back into the action and post a useful 1:41.612.

The final three runners were also all Porsche mounted. Khun Saravut Sereethoranakul has taken over the ‘997’ that was driven by his pole sitting brother Khun Sarun last year and he turned in a neat and tidy session to record a 1:42.077 on his Super Car debut. Wrapping up the order came the two Painkiller Racing Porsches, the 997 of Khun Naputt Assakul and the 991 of Khun Paul Kanjanapas. The former is moving up to GTM this year after racing the team’s little Ginetta in GTC last season while the latter is getting to grips with his new 991. Both were neat and tidy all through the session to record solid times in the 1:43 bracket.

Super Car GTM: Race 1

As the big beasts lined up on the grid in the blazing late afternoon sun for the first race of the weekend for GTM, the air was crackling with anticipation. However there was already drama unfolding as on the warm up lap the B-Quik Porsche driven by Khun Shaun suffered a small oil fire and he quickly pulled over, the young New Zealander’s Super Car debut was going to have to wait a little bit longer.

Removing the stricken car meant the red flag waved and the field reformed on the grid with the race distance being reduced by 1 lap. At the green lights Khun Sarun made no mistakes and controlled the pack from pole as it surged into Turn 1 but behind him it was all change as the two B-Quik drivers, Khun Daniel and Khun Henk, lost places while the two red Ferraris swapped positions as Khun Kantasak also got a poor start. At the front Khun Nattavude jumped Khun Daniel into Turn 1 to take P2 and he was flying, the former champion hustling the Lamborghini down the hill into Turn 3. Khun Daniel meanwhile didn’t drop any more places and tucked up into P3.

Khun Craig got a flyer from the start, scything his way into the top ten but as the pack surged down through Turn 2 Khun Saravut saw his debut in Super Car prematurely come to an end as he suffered a broken throttle cable and had to park his Porsche up which resulted in the Safety Car being deployed. Before the cars received the boards and slowed to a crawl though Khun Kantasak got the place back he had lost to Khun Craig at the start.

So at the end of the first lap as the pack formed up behind the Safety Car it was the white #55 Lamborghini of Khun Sarun that led them round followed by Khun Nattavude, Khun Daniel, Khun Voravud, Khun Kantasak, Khun Henk, Khun Craig, Khun Nattapong and then the two 991s of Khun Pitsanu and Khun Aekarat.

The Safety Car came back in after two laps and Khun Sarun played exactly the same script as he held onto the lead, again with Khun Nattavude harrying him down the hill, but through the sweep around Turn 3 the Lamborghini pulled out a couple of car lengths and from the gingerly braking of the Toyota it appeared that Khun Nattavude was already suffering stopping problems. Meanwhile at the restart Khun Daniel lost P3 to Khun Kantasak while Khun Nattapong was really flying, he picked off two places to move up to P7.

At the end of the first green flag lap following the Safety Car period it was Khun Sarun back in full control of the race at the front, pulling quickly away from Khun Nattavude with Khun Kantasak next up followed by Khun Daniel, Khun Voravud, Khun Henk, Khun Nattapong and Khun Pitsanu.

Into the fifth lap the main action was Khun Henk who was now setting the pace of the race trying to wrestle P5 off Khun Voravud as he worked the Audi back into contention while Khun Craig was slipping away and had dropped down to P9.

By lap 6 Khun Sarun has a handy lead of 2.7 seconds and Khun Nattavude had a further 3 seconds over Khun Kantasak as the top three began to spread out. The main action was behind them though as Khun Henk was harrying Khun Voravud but now had Khun Nattapong right on his tail and Khun Pitsanu had closed up to make it a four car battle for the final podium position.

In the Amateur (AM) class Khun Pinet was in command but had just three tenths of a second over Khun Paul who was really hustling the white Porsche in front, but not finding any useful gaps, while Khun Naputt, following a couple of early spins, had dropped away from this tussling duo and was 8 seconds adrift of the key battle for gentleman glory.

The race passed the half distance mark and the top ten remained the same but the four car battle for P5 was now nose-to-tail, Khun Voravud, Khun Henk, Khun Nattapong and Khun Pitsanu all locked together but seemingly no one could get a break. The #26 Audi was certainly swarming all over the #89 Ferrari.

Meanwhile a little bit further forward Khun Daniel had closed back up on Khun Nattavude and the gap was down to just half a second. Lap 9 and the battle for P5 evolved as Khun Henk finally got past the Ferrari on the run down the hill to Turn 3 and within a couple of turns he was pulling away fast as Nattapong took his turn in the queue and closed up onto the tail of the #89 Ferrari.

Then Khun Nattavude, who had looked uncomfortable with his brakes all race, slowed up dramatically, had a couple of excursions onto the grass and plummeted down the running order. He was clearly in big trouble and indeed at the end of the lap he boxed to retire.

So at the conclusion of lap 9 as the race headed into its final third it was Khun Sarun, who now had a massive 12 second cushion over Khun Kantasak, then came Khun Daniel, Khun Henk, Khun Voravud, Khun Nattapong, Khun Pitsanu, Khun Craig and Khun Aekarat, who was all over the back of the Holden, while Khun Pinet, who rounded out the top 10, was still was in control in the AM class and still fending off Khun Paul.

Lap 11 and Khun Daniel was on the back of Khun Kantasak as the battle for P2 hotted up, he stuck his nose out a few times but the reigning GTM champion had all the bases covered. Khun Henk was now bridging the gap and was just 2 seconds back from his teammate. At the end of the lap Khun Pitsanu spun and lost ground while Khun Voravud also suffered a spin and lost places.

As race went into the penultimate lap, lap 13, Khun Henk had closed the gap to his teammate and the Dutchman was now the fastest man on the track and the only driver to be lapping in the 1:38 bracket. The #26 Audi was really flying, was there still time for a three-way battle for P2?

Into the last lap and Khun Henk was looking hard for a way past his teammate, it was a full on battle between the ‘bumblebees’ now. Khun Daniel was having to cover his rear end and at the same time try to find a way past Khun Kantasak who was running inch perfect and not looking like he was going to relinquish P2.

That was the state of play through the last lap, Khun Henk couldn’t get quite close enough to his teammate; he really needed DRS! Khun Kantasak took advantage of the teammates squabbling away and kept a couple of car lengths in front and that was it as they came round to the finishline apart from Khun Craig running wide out of the last turn and handing a place to Khun Aekarat.

However Khun Henk was immediately hit by a time penalty for a flag infringement, which dropped him down to P11, and that meant Khun Nattapong moved up to fourth, Khun Aekarat snatched the final podium position and Khun Craig was up to P6. Behind Khun Craig came Khun Voravud who held on to salvage P7, while Khun Pitsanu recovered from his spin to nail down P8. Then came Khun Pinet, leading the AM class home to record the first ever victory in the new category. Khun Paul chased him all the way to the flag but couldn’t find a gap while Khun Naputt claimed third in the AM class on his Super Car debut.

Qualifying: Super Car GTC

No one had been quite sure what to expect when Vattana Motorsport announced it would enter a Reiter Engineering developed KTM X-Bow GT4 in Super Car GTC this year. It was a logical acquisition for the team to make due to the close link between the two companies.

Certainly though if the X-Bow GT4 went was as fast as it looked like it could go then everyone else was going to be in trouble. And that proved to the case in qualifying as Khun Narasak Ittritpong banged in a 1:45.733 which was a second quicker than anyone else could manage. It also looks like there is plenty more to come from this all carbon-fibre racecar. Fast and striking, all that now remains to be seen is just how it handles the race. That question will be answered here this afternoon.

Alongside the matte black carbon KTM (albeit with a few matte blue wrapped panels) will be the red and white Toyota 86 of Khun Manat Kulapalanont. He’s joining GTC for the first time after running in GTM last year. The car has been tweaked and will be a much better fit for GTC and that should allow this talented driver to show off more of his handy driving skills. He started doing that in qualifying yesterday afternoon by banging in a 1:46.783 that gets him off to a great start.

This year the Toyotas have a striking new adaption to their traditional red and white livery, fusing the two colours in the middle with a series of sharp flashes, and there will be two of these 86s in the top three on the grid as Khun Suttipong Smittachartch set the third quickest time in qualifying with a 1:49.317.

Fourth fastest was the Rotary Revolution run #13 Mazda RX-7 of Khun Narin Yensuk, the Chiang Mai driver was the quickest of the team’s three strong entry with Khun U-tain Pongprapas next up fifth quickest and Khun Pete Thongchua, last year’s Super Car GTC vice champion, in sixth.

Khun U-tain is debuting in GTC this weekend and is getting his first laps in with the RX-7 so it’s a big learning process, especially as the red, white and green racecar was finally finished with an overnighter in the garage that allowed him to turn in a few shakedown laps on Thursday just before the qualifying session loomed on Friday. So he’s on a steep curve but it’s all looking very promising so far.

Stuck in the middle of the trio of rotary powered cars is the Ginetta of Khun Rudolf Yu. The Hong Kong driver, who drives in Super 2000 for Painkiller Racing, is doubling up to take over the little British sportscar, which has been vacated by its driver from last year, Khun Naputt Assakul, who has graduated to GTC. Khun Rudolf, who lost a lot of running time during Thursday’s free test sessions due to problems with the car, including making a trip back to the pits on a tow truck, did his customary neat and tidy job to claim P5.

The GTC grid will be wrapped up this afternoon by Khun Attapot Sriprom, the B-Quik driver is debuting in the team’s newly acquired Porsche 996 GT3 Cup. He’s graduated from the team’s Super Eco programme so has a lot to learn but he did a very nice job to keep out of trouble, improve his lap times and place himself decently for the race. The final car on the grid will be the pretty grey Mitsubishi Evo X of Khun Prateep Tumprasert, who is joining GTC for the first time.

Qualifying: TCR Thailand

During the Friday morning practice everyone was playing their cards very close to their chest and there was little to report. But that changed totally at 1600 yesterday afternoon when TCR Thailand rolled out for its first ever qualifying session. Everyone in the paddock stopped and gathered round the timing screens. The talk around TCR has been big and plentiful but the unofficial testing this week has hammered home the potential of the TCR concept.

Vattana Motorsport’s Khun Jack Lemvard went out quickly, banged in a sub-46 lap, just, as it happens it was a 1:45.973, and went straight to the top of the timesheets, more than a second clear of the next best driver, Khun Chen Jian Hong, and stayed there.

There was a long wait until Khun Carlo appeared, it was ten minutes into the session in fact before the red and white #89 Singha Motorsport Team Thailand SEAT Léon rumbled out of the pitlane and everyone looked for this pro star’s response. Khun Carlo did an outlap, one warm up lap and then fired up everything he had and banged in a stunning lap that ripped whole tenths out of Khun Jack’s time through all three sectors, the Dutch driver slamming the car onto provisional pole with a 1:45.502, almost half a second quicker. The pitlane erupted as these two world-class drivers went up against each other.

Just behind them the two Krating Daeng SEATs were quickly lapping in the low 1:47s, then came the final SEAT, this one was in the hands of Khun Paritat Bulbon, before the two Honda Civics of Khun Nattachak Hanjitkasem and Khun Wijak Lertprasertpakorn wrapped up the timesheets.

With ten minutes to go Khun Jack came back out and everyone waited for the response. He did an outlap and then as all eyes followed the yellow and white SEAT as it headed for the start-finishline, the Thai driver however dived into pits and the dramatic momentum was broken. There were 6 minutes of the session left and both front-runners were off the track, in fact by now Khun Carlo was out of his car and finished for the afternoon.

For Khun Jack it wasn’t over yet and it was really a case of a quick in and out and with just 3 minutes if the session remaining the Thai driver was back on track and onto a flyer, he just had time remaining for two more attempts at pole.

He lost tenths in the first sector, pulled a couple of hundreds out over Khun Carlo in the second sector and then dropped a couple of hundredths in the third sector. He set a lap of 1:45.933 and while that was a marginally better time for him, albeit by a couple of hundredths, it didn’t dent Khun Carlo’s advantage. With less than a minute remaining there was time for one more lap for Khun Jack, but that fizzled, it was a 1:46.033, still quick and less than a tenth slower than the previous lap – but Khun Carlo had nailed down the first ever TCR Thailand pole position.

While all that was going on Khun Chen dropped in a sub-47 lap, posting a 1:46.858 that cemented his third position on the timesheets. It will be an all-Krating Daeng Row 2 this afternoon as Khun Grant Supaphong’s best time of 1:47.668 was good enough for fourth position. With a best laptime in 1:48.488 Khun Paritat will kick off Row 3 while the first of the Honda Civics, the #66 of Khun Nattachak less than two-tenths further back. The final time was set by Khun Nattachak’s teammate Khun Wijak who and these two lead out the AM class.

Qualifying: Super 2000

Khun Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya stated his intentions clearly during the morning’s official Free Practice session with a best laptime that was a full eight tenths of a second faster than the next quickest driver, Khun Chayut Yangpichit, while Khun Manat Kulapalanont was third quickest but over three seconds back. Expected front-runner Khun Munkong Sathienthirakul didn’t have much joy at all and was 5.7 seconds back.

When the Super 2000 qualifying session went to green flag running at 1520 yesterday Khun Kittipol came out, planted the #25 Honda Civic FD at the top of the timesheets again and stayed there as the 30 minute session ticked away. No one got close and the double winner in Bangsaen last November continues that form and will start from pole position for this afternoon’s 12 lap Race 1.

In fact Khun Kittipol’s best lap, in 1:52.180, was exactly a second clear of the second fastest driver, Khun Chayut Yangpichit (Honda DC 5) who posted a 1:53.184 to nab the outside of the front row. Behind Khun Kittipol and Khun Chayut will be an expected from runner, Khun Munkong, who improved on the qualifying classification dramatically from the morning session but is still two seconds away from the front, and Toyota factory driver Khun Manat Kulapalanont who is back in Super 2000 after a year away in Super Car GTM. The red and white Toyota 86 was good for a 1:55.117, which was just a few hundredths ahead of Khun Phatwit Phayakcso who wraps up the top five in his usual Honda City. Rounding out the third row will be Khun Kittipol’s teammate, Khun Thanavud Bhirombhakdi.

The fourth row will led out by Khun Rudolf Yu, who is doubling up with his debut in Super Car GTC this weekend, although the 2015 Class B champion would have expected to be further towards the front. However the Hong Kong driver lost fourth gear during the qualifying session and will be looking to make up places as soon as the lights go green this afternoon.

Next to him will be Khun Thanakorn Buttawong in the first of the two factory run Toyota Altis entries. He steps into the seat as a prize for winning the Toyota Altis One Make Race championship last year and on his debut in Super 2000 he also bagged Class 2 pole so it was job well done.

Khun Thanakorn’s teammate, Khun Pure Hongsapan, in the other Altis was next up with the ninth fastest time during the session. The final slot in the top 10 during qualifying meanwhile went to Khun Ekprawat Petcharak in the Civic FB; he’s starting his second season in Super 2000.

Qualifying: Super Pickup

When the trucks took to the track for the first session all eyes were on the brand new Toyota Hilux Revos of last year’s champion and runner up, Khun Jaras Jaengkamolkulchai and Khun Songsak Kornsirisuepsakun, respectively. However the first racing ‘Revo’ trucks in Thailand are brand new out of the box, only turning their wheels in unofficial practice and they clearly have plenty of development work to do. They ended the session with P7 time for Khun Songsak and P14 for Khun Jaras.

Instead, getting his marker down quickly was Khun Phisit Netdechathanasit in the Innovation Motorsport Mazda BT-50 with a 2:02.949, two tenths faster than Khun Tanawat Suwannarat in the Prospeed YSS Team Thailand Isuzu D-Max.

When Khun Tanawat stepped on the gas in the qualifying session a few hours later, he ripped a full second out of his morning time and planted the #22 Isuzu on pole position with a 2:02.208. After languishing down in P8 during the morning session Khun Yuth Jhannet (#98 Chevrolet) also pushed up the gears and posted a 2:05.051 to occupy the outside of the front row. However that was a staggering 2.8 seconds away from pole and the rest of the grid is going to have to come up with something special if they are going to trouble Khun Tanawat (who also nabbed Class B pole) when the first of the two 12 lap races for Super Pickup goes to green lights at 1110 this morning.

The second row will be led out by Khun Peerawat Pajeeyachart who will be aiming to turn the pace he showed last year on his way to winning the Class C championship (with three class wins including one here in Buriram) into overall podium results. The Class C runner up last year Khun Philip Massoud, who, like Khun Peerawat, has also been bumped up to Class B this year, would have been on Row 2 – so that rivalry could have resumed – but he was penalised his best time for smoke and that means he moves down to P8. The Krating Daeng driver, who will have an overnight turbo change for his Isuzu to resolve the problem, will be building on his hugely successful debut racing year and will certainly be in the mood to fight back and target the upper steps of the overall podium.

Khun Nuthaporn Namjuk in the #46 Donut D.N.A Exedy Isuzu D-Max moves up to Row 2 and he’s one to watch out for as his career takes a step forward every year; a highly experienced truck racer now he had only missed out on the second row by a couple of a hundredth of a second before Khun Philip was moved back a few places. Fifth on the grid will be Khun Phisit, who wasn’t able to recapture his morning pace.

The new Toyotas didn’t show too much progress from the morning practice session, however Khun Songsak is next up on the classification with the P6 time while Khun Jaras is down in P12. Both though know how to hustle a truck through a race and their target will be to pick up as many points as possible to keep themselves in the championship hunt before gaining a breathing space to develop the brand new Revo pickup by the time the action resumes here in July. Fifteen trucks set a time during the 30-minute qualifying session.

Qualifying:  Super Compact

When Super Compact took to the track for the first time yesterday morning for official practice everyone was busy finding their feet with their new cars and laptimes weren’t completely representative. However straight to the top of the timesheets went Khun Pasarit Phromsombat with a 2:01.190 best lap during the session in his brand new Honda CR-Z. He’s chasing an unprecedented three TSS title in a row in three different categories and he’s taking his debut in Super Compact very seriously.

Second quickest on the timesheets in the mid morning session was Khun Kajornsak Na Songkhla, he was 1.2 seconds back and it was already looking like this duo are preparing to relive their title fight in Super Production in 2014 when Khun Kajornsak and Khun Pasarit slugged it out all season, separated by just a single point when the dust settled over the season closer in Bangsaen.

With those two don’t expect the balance to stay one way for very long – and that certainly was the case yesterday as a few hours later when the Super Compact runners piled onto the track for the category’s first ever qualifying session, the tables turned and the inaugural pole position went to Khun Kajornsak.

In fact the #4 Ford Fiesta had a very healthy half a second advantage when the checkered flag came out on the mid afternoon 30-minute qualifying session. Khun Kajornsak posted a 2:01.677 to put the battle for pole to bed while Khun Pasarit, in the pretty blue CR-Z, whacked in a 2:02.204 – expect plenty more see-sawing of positions between these two drivers come the races.

Third fastest was Khun Silapa Teeraniti in the #47 Sittipol Lipo K45 Toyota Vios to claim Class C pole position while the second row of the grid will be filled by the red #55 Innovation Motorsport Mazda2 driven by Khun Michael Freeman who pipped his teammate Khun Tachapan Vijittranon by eight tenths.

The 18-year-old lady racer was however second quickest in Class C and leads out Row 3. Alongside her will be the third fastest car in Class C the #19 KS Racing Honda Jazz driven by Khun Prommat Pattanamahakul.

Qualifying: Super Production

Here there was an experienced name at the top of the timesheets in the official practice session, Khun Hideharu Kuroki, who has joined Super Compact driving a new Honda Jazz GK. He set his marker down with a 2:02.785 and Khun Yotsarun was the one who really rose to the challenge, finishing the session just a couple of hundredths of a second shy of that time. Third quickest was Tomas Raldorf; he was six-tenths off the top.

When it came round to the afternoon qualifying session Khun Hideharu ripped four tenths out of his morning time, no one could get near his best lap of 2:02.358, which was in fact a full second quicker than anyone else could manage. Khun Hideharu put all his expertise to good use, his new Jazz looked polished and he’s already looking quite comfortable.

The chasers though aren’t giving up and there is some real strength in depth this year in Super Production. That’s always the case in this most evenly matched of categories on the TSS programme, but it’s really looking like this could be the most competitive season for many years. And there was a surprise – or not really to those who have seen her career blossoming over the last couple of years – for on the outside of the front row was Khun Nattanid Leewattanavaragul after she turned in a 2:03.303 to claim the place.

Khun Nattanid swatted the opposition aside last year to win Class C on her rookie year in Super Production with a string of wins that left her rivals trailing and now she’s stepping on the gas to chase the overall title. Clearly destined to go a long way expect her to be piling the pressure on Khun Hideharu tomorrow.

Then it gets even more youthful as the second row opens out with a 16-year-old as Khun Kmik Karnasuta planted his Honda City into P3 with a superb lap in 2:03.538, just two tenths off the front row. He’s graduating from Super Eco to Super Production this year and has switched to Team Eakie to drive its Honda City (which was previously driven by Khun Kantadhee Kusiri) and that very zippy time gave him Class C pole.

However class positions seem almost immaterial with this youngster as clearly he’s destined to be a future Thai champion – just like his father – and so everyone instinctively benchmarks him against the overall runners. Unquestionably it was a superb way to announce his entry into this category.

Wrapping up Row 2 (as well as the second best time in Class B) was Khun Anusorn Asiralertsiri who will be hoping to put behind him an unrewarding last season and translate the flashes of real pace he showed into consistent podium finishes. The third row will be led out Khun Sansuk Yotsarun who could have expected to be higher and he will be aiming to push up the leaderboard quickly when the first race goes to green lights this morning.

Alongside Khun Anusorn will be Khun Tony Percy who has been on the pace for the last couple of days and is another who endured an unrewarding 2015 and will be looking to unlock all his experience and pace this weekend. The top ten overall was rounded out by four drivers that all have the pace to chase wins here in Buriram, Khun Thanasit Bhunyatharanonth, Khun Thomas Raldorf, Khun Anon Rodprasert and Khun Sirisak Manthugumphol. 22 cars set a time during the Super Production qualifying session.

Qualifying: Super Eco

Friday kicked off very early at 0800 as the Super Eco runners took to the track for their first session and it quickly began to look like the Krating Daeng team isn’t planning to give away its title easily. The reigning champion Khun Konpichit Toyingcharoen threw down the first marker of the weekend with a 2:13.025 that remained unmatched, just, as his teammate Khun Paveen Dangsa-nga was only six hundredths of a second off his time when the dust had settled. Then there was a bit of a gap before Khun Jakraphan Davee came up third in the timesheets.

When qualifying came up a few hours later, the script didn’t deviate and Khun Konpichit put himself in the best possible place to defend his crown by slapping the #55 Suzuki Swift onto pole position with a best lap in 2:12.500, slicing half a second out of his morning time as the track conditions improved. Khun Paveen made it an all-Krating Daeng front row, albeit half a second back from his teammate.

Khun Jakraphan will lead out Row 2, continuing to be the best of the non Krating Daeng cars while Khun Sittron Phromsombat will line up alongside him and just two tenths separate them. The top five on the timesheets was wrapped up by Khun Petch Sathawarawong while sixteen cars set a qualifying time.