Race Reports: TCR Thailand & Super Car GTM

Thailand Super Series (TSS) is all about ‘firsts’, breaking new ground and reaching new heights. That was exactly the story across two of the key categories on the programme as the brand new TCR Thailand concept arrived with a very big splash along with sky-high ambitions while Super Car GTC raised its game with fresh names and teams in the winners’ circles, driving new and improved machines.

TCR Thailand unleashed a new breed of racecars here for the first time, 2.0-litre turbocharged ‘touring cars’ that were just as exciting dynamically as they looked visually. Anticipation was in the air as these new machines hit the track with big reputation drivers behind the wheel – such as Khun Carlo Van Dam, Khun Jack Lemvard, Khun Grant Supaphong and Khun Chen Jian Hong – and that just added to the explosive mix. Everyone was looking at the timing screens.

In the end it was Khun Carlo who etched his name into the history books by winning the first ever TCR Thailand race and he proceeded to make it a clean sweep of victories by swiftly elbowing his way through the pack after the reverse grid for the second race so no one else got a look in at the top step of the podium all weekend.

But the Dutchman didn’t have it too easy as Khun Jack and Khun Chen Jian Hong in particular took the fight to him and they bagged an overall runner up spot each. Krating Daeng’s other driver, Khun Grant Supaphong, was also right in the mix and it’s shaping up to be an exciting year for TCR Thailand with further new cars and drivers set to flow onto the grid as the year progresses.

Meanwhile, the new season for Super Car GTC kicked off in Buriram and here there were also new faces and new cars as this ‘feeder’ category steps up to the plate to become the second ‘Super Car’ racing category in Thailand. As ever for ‘GTC’, the balance swung lap by lap and in the two races there were two different winners in two different cars.

One of those two cars was brand new to GTM. The rakish Reiter Engineering-built KTM X-Bow GT4 has been added to Vattana Motorsport’s racecar portfolio and in the first race it proved just as fast as it looked, Khun Narasak Ittritpong planted it on pole and then powered to victory to hand the menacing carbon-fibre machine a perfect debut win. A successful introduction to Thai racing life for the X-Bow and another note in the history books from the weekend.

In the second race it was an experienced Super Car hand who swept to victory as Khun Pete Thongchua claimed maximum points in the #17 Mazda RX-8 to get his Drivers’ title challenge off to a great start.

In fact there was much than just the victory as the Rotary Revolution built Mazdas rose to the occasion and claimed the Teams’ trophy in both races. Astounding results for this small concern that only last year embarked on a highly ambitious plan to develop its own breed of racecars. That plan – or maybe dream was a better word – was thoroughly vindicated in the North East and they must now be considered capable of mounting a serious challenge for the Teams’ title.

There were plenty more success stories to emerge from GTM’s hot and hectic weekend in Buriram. Toyota added one of its star drivers, Khun Manat Kulapalanont, to the category mix and he proceeded to really shake up the order, hustling the pace setting KTM.

B-Quik Racing bagged a podium on its debut in GTM thanks for the efforts of its rookie driver Khun Attapot Sriprom, fresh from Super Eco, Khun U-tain Pongprapas enjoyed a trip to the rostrum as he superbly made the step up from Super 1500, while one of the best of the ‘graduate’ performances came from Super 2000 regular Khun Rudolf Yu who took over the Ginetta and was bang on the front running pace all weekend.

TCR Thailand Race 1 (Saturday)

The Saturday afternoon heat was building nicely, and track temperatures were edging into the 40 plus degrees bracket by the time the cars edged out of the garages and round the circuit to form up on the grid for the first ever TCR Thailand race. As the seven, brand new and never raced before, machines lined up on the grid it was the SEATs of Khun Carlo Van Dam on pole with Khun Jack Lemvard alongside, two of the fastest drivers racing in the region today so there was a crackle of anticipation not just to see the new breed of racecars in action but exactly what this pair of drivers could pull off.

There was a little bit of Thai motorsport history in the offing as the first driver past the checkered flag at the end of the 12 laps would also go down in the record books as the first one to ever to win a TCR Thailand race.

Behind them it was the similar liveried Krating Daeng SEATs of Khun Chen Jian Hong and Khun Grant Supaphong with the final Spanish car, that of Khun Paritat Bulbon, leading out Row 3. Then came the Honda Civics of Khun Nattachak Hanjitkasem and Khun Wijak Lertprasertpakorn.

At the green lights Khun Carlo comfortably converted his pole position into the race lead with Khun Chen getting a quick getaway from Row 2 and quickly looking down the middle. Into Turn 1 Khun Carlo had a car’s length on Khun Jack and Khun Chen with the former having the inside line while Khun Grant was tucked in behind them.

Then in the first ever TCR Thailand race there was some really traditional ‘touring car’ door paint rubbing out of the opening turn and the first big loser was Khun Jack as he ran off the track and lost four places. As the pack raced through Turn 2 Khun Paritat pulled off; he had also suffered from contact at Turn 1, which had damaged his driveshaft, and his race was abruptly over.

Khun Jack put the hammer down and picked off some places and made his way up to P3 and then his progress slowed as he whittle the gap to Khun Chen who was next up, the Vattana driver hauling the deficit down to around 3 seconds, but he wasn’t able to make much more progress and in reality the Taiwanese driver had plenty in hand and carefully managed his cushion as the race headed into the closing stages.

Ahead of them Khun Carlo kept stretching out his advantage and by the time the race entered the final couple of laps the Dutchman had edged out a commanding 10 second lead. Into the final couple of laps and there was very little change, Khun Jack banged in the 1:47 laps but Khun Chen was always able to respond and match him.

Thus at the end of 12 laps Khun Carlo cruised across the finishline with 9.608 seconds in hand over Khun Chen, who also won the AM class, while Khun Jack was 1.7 seconds further and wrapped up the podium.

Then there was a 15-second gap back to Khun Grant in fourth with Khun Nattachak and Khun Wijak, who were 2-3 in the AM class, completing the classified runners at the checkered flag. There was just one retirement from the race, Khun Paritat was gone on the first lap.

History had been made. “I’m very proud to be the first winner of a round of TCR Thailand,” Khun Carlo said afterward. “I enjoyed a lot driving this car coming from a GT3, which is a rear wheel drive car, but this is actually better than I was expecting, it has a lot of power [and] good downforce. Tomorrow with the reverse grid we will have to see, it’s going to be a bit more challenging.”

Super Car GTC Race 1 (Saturday)

It wasn’t any great surprise when the cars trundled round to the grid on Saturday afternoon to find Khun Narasak Ittritpong lining up the KTM X-Bow on pole position for Race 1. In qualifying the new car had proved to be every bit as fast as it looked and he turned in a blistering best time of 1:45.733, the only driver to chuck in a sub-45 lap; that was also a full second clear of the next quickest time. It was in fact the only 45-bracket lap as although Khun Narasak also recorded pole for Race 2 during the qualifying session his second best time was a low-46 lap.

Reiter Engineering has developed the little X-Bow sportscar for the FIA’s GT4 category in conjunction with KTM and as Vattana Motorsport is the official agent for the German racecar builder here it was a logical fit for this ‘prototype’ looking car to arrive here. In fact Vattana has picked up a pair of X-Bow GT4s, with the second machine sitting idle at the rear of their garage. It’s a sensational-looking creation, especially its sweeping glasshouse, which pivots on a front hinge, and the all-carbon machine drew admiring glances throughout weekend.

Khun Manat Kulapalanont bagged the slot on outside of Row 1 during qualifying in the faster of the two factory run Toyotas although he would be sidelined before the race started with electrical problems while his teammate Khun Suttipong Smittachartch led out Row 2 with the paciest of the trio of Rotary Revolution built Mazdas, the #13 RX-7 of Khun Narin Yensuk, alongside him. Then came the Ginetta of Khun Rudolf Yu and the RX-8 of Khun Pete Thongchua.

At the green lights Khun Narasak controlled the GTC field away with Khun Pete tucking right in behind him after getting a cracking break at the rolling start. However there was a big tangle between several of the GTM cars at front and the race was red flagged, the cars returning to the grid while the stricken machines were winched away.

At the restart, more than 10 minutes later, Khun Narasak made another clean start as the rest of the runners tripped over each other and he had about four or five car lengths by the first turn and a couple of seconds in hand as everyone braked for Turn 3. Behind him Khun Narin had the best start of the rest to slot into second place with the GTC-debuting Porsche of Khun Attapot Sriprom getting away with excellent pace to take up third place, this young driver was starting his first race in B-Quik’s new Porsche 996 GT3 Cup and having raced in the team’s Honda Brio programme in Super Eco last year he certainly had a big leap to make. Khun Rudolf in his first race in the Ginetta also had a good start but ran wide at Turn 1 and dropped back down the field.

Then in fourth came Khun Pete, who had a tardy getaway this time, followed by another GTC debutant, Khun U-tain Pongprapas in the brand new red, white and green Mazda RX-7. Khun Pete however was quickly past Khun U-tain and Khun Attapot as he recovered lost ground while Khun Rudolf was also back into contention and snapping at the heels of Khun U-tain as they went sweeping into the S-section for the first time.

While the pack squabbled over P2, at the front Khun Narasak was streaking away and no one would see any glimpses of the matte carbon fibre back end of the X-Bow all afternoon, he was long gone. Finally driving a machine with reliability to match his skills, Khun Narasak romped away and after 12 laps of racing he took the checkered flag with a massive 58.346 seconds in hand over the next car; he wasn’t stretched either as his best lap was only a 1:50.354.

Almost a minute down the road from the KTM, Khun Rudolf brought the Ginetta home in second place. It was an excellent drive on his GTC debut and his first time behind the wheel of the little British racecar. In fact the Hong Kong driver, who is doubling up this year with his regular Super 2000 drive, had more limited running time in the car than he would have liked as he suffered some technical issues during the practice sessions and in the race he reported he was managing brake problems. However after running very wide at the first turn he steadily and impressively picked his way back up the order.

Khun Pete led out a 3-4 finish for the rotary runners, he was less than two seconds behind Khun Rudolf while he had seven seconds in hand over his teammate Khun Narin. That double podium gave the Rotary Revolution built cars the Teams’ trophy, the first time that the outfit had bagged the Teams’ honours in Super Car and a great reward for many, many months of hard work.

For Khun Narin meanwhile, he had shown an uptick in pace during qualifying and the opening few minutes of the race, but after 4 laps he started to suffered issues with the rear differential, it began to lock up, and that slowed his pace, forcing the Chiang Mai to nurse the pink Mazda to the checkered flag, which he successfully did.

Khun Suttipong in the only Toyota to make it into the race completed the podium finishers in fifth place, he was 14 seconds down the road on Khun Narin but could have been much higher as he was hit by a 30 second penalty post race for a fire extinguisher infringement and that dropped him down to the last step of the podium. The final finisher was Khun Attapot; he was classified one lap down. The B-Quik driver turned in a very neat and tidy race as he learns the characteristics of the Porsche and already looks like he will slot nicely into GTC.

Aside from the non-starting Toyota of Khun Manat, Khun U-tain boxed after the first lap with a suspension problem and retired while another GTC debutant, Khun Prateep Tumprasert, dropped out of the race after 3 laps in the Fast Performance-entered Mitsubishi Evo X. This is the former NSports built machine that was driven by Japanese hotshot Khun Naoya Yamano a few years ago in Super Car and the striking car made a very welcome return to the paddock, now finished in a distinctive grey and black livery.

TCR Thailand Race 2 (Sunday)

From the green lights of the second and final race it was the two Krating Daeng drivers that seized the early advantage with Khun Grant first and Khun Chen second while Khun Nattachak was third as the reverse grid jumbled up the running order.

Khun Carlo enjoyed a better getaway than Khun Jack and elbowed his way down the inside to snatch fourth place and then out of the first corner the Singha SEAT had the racing line as well as the momentum and the Dutchman quickly dived past Khun Nattachak, who ran quite wide, and then moved inside Khun Chen. It meant Khun Carlo was up to second place within a just few hundred metres of the startline.

Down the hill and Khun Jack was caught in the traffic and didn’t get a clear line. As the cars braked for Turn 3 Khun Carlo went round the outside of the leader, Khun Grant, while Khun Jack, also using all the road, cleared a couple of the cars in front to move up to third.

Khun Grant clung to the inside line through Turn 3 and with Khun Carlo running a bit wide as they exited the turn Khun Jack came through the middle and it was three abreast as they powered up the hill towards turn four.

It was sensational stuff but Khun Carlo had the inside line and as the trio braked for the left hander it was the Dutchman’s advantage to take and he neatly slotted into P1 with Khun Jack on his tail while Khun Grant was squeezed onto the outside leaving room for his teammate, Khun Chen, to nip in and move into third place. Through the sweeps of Turn 5, 6 and 7 Khun Jack harried Khun Carlo, but by the time they rocketed through the final sector the Singha-liveried car had a useful couple of car lengths in hand.

Across the start-finishline for the first time 1 it was Khun Carlo with six tenths of a second over Khun Jack and Khun Grant in P3, a similar six tenths behind the Vattana Motorsport car, followed by his Krating Daeng teammate Khun Chen in fourth, Khun Nattachak fifth, Khun Wijak sixth and Khun Paritat seventh.

At the end of the second lap the gap was still six tenths between Khun Carlo and Khun Jack but Khun Grant has dropped to 1.4 seconds back and the other black SEAT of Khun Chen was just four tenths behind him. However Khun Grant was a bit late on the brakes into Turn 3 on the third tour as he came under pressure from his teammate and Khun Chen took advantage of his slide to nip through into third place.

Khun Grant’s excursion saw him loose two places as he dropped behind Khun Nattachak and got back onto full power just in front of an emerging battle between Khun Wijak and Khun Paritat for sixth which thus turned into a three car battle for fifth place.

At the end of lap 3 and gap between Khun Carlo and Khun Jack was pretty static, at 0.599 seconds, both were lapping in the 1:47s but Khun Jack had posted the fastest lap of the race so far, in 1:47.084. Khun Chen was now three and a half seconds off this battle as the top two streaked away from the main pack.

Over the fourth lap Khun Carlo pulled out two tenths on Khun Jack, the gap now was 0.801 seconds, and they were making a really furious pace, so much so that Khun Chen, the best of the rest, dropped back by one and a half seconds from them of that lap. Khun Paritat meanwhile had passed Khun Wijak for sixth place but the metallic liveried Civic wasn’t giving the place up easily and stuck to the tail of the white, black and blue SEAT for a further lap or so before Khun Paritat shook him loose and opened up a cushion.

At the end of the fifth lap Khun Jack pulled a tenth back on Khun Carlo, it was even between these two and it didn’t look like anything was going to change anytime soon. In fact the next lap up wasn’t so good for Khun Jack, he dropped into the 1:48s and lost seventh tenths to Khun Carlo. Khun Chen kept falling away too and was now 8.266 seconds away from the front battle.

Lap 7 and the top two were separated by two hundredths of a second as they crossed the line and on lap 8 it was three just hundredths. However on the ninth lap Khun Carlo pulled out half a second and the gap was now creeping up, it stood at 1.913 seconds; that was pretty comfortable for Khun Carlo and at three quarters race distance it seemed to be pretty much all over. Khun Grant meanwhile had dropped behind Khun Nattachak who was up into P4.

Lap 10 saw Khun Jack pull three tenths back and the gap was down to 1.505 seconds, however the #44 SEAT then ran very wide as the pair went into the second sector of the next lap, lap 11, and that slender time gain had come to naught. Khun Jack dropped a tenth to Khun Carlo on that penultimate lap and the gap was 1.664 seconds as they went into the final lap.

Khun Carlo stroked it round the final lap, he had really been in full control of this race after the first four turns of lap 1 and it had never looked at any point like he wasn’t going to make it two wins out of two. He had made a little bit of history, the first ever weekend of TCR Thailand and the Dutchman had swept up both wins.

This pair were in a class of their own though and Khun Chen was a distant 14.150 seconds down the road as he came home in third place to win the AM class. A superb drive by Khun Nattachak saw him finish just 3.2 seconds behind the Krating Daeng car to claim second place in the AM class while another three seconds further behind the Civic was Khun Chen’s teammate, Khun Grant, who never really came back into the picture after his lap 1 incident. Khun Paritat eased away from Khun Wijak over the closing stages of the race to finish P6 and the second Civic on the classification was the final finisher as well as third in AM.

When it comes to the TCR Thailand Drivers’ championship, Khun Carlo picked up the maximum score possible in Buriram to lead the PRO-AM classification with 50 points ahead of Khun Jack, 36 points, who is second. Then come Khun Grant on 30 points and Khun Paritat with 12 points. In the AM class meanwhile Khun Chen has 50 points after taking a double class win while Khun Nattachak and Khun Wijak are tied for second place with 33 points apiece.

Super Car GTC Race 2 (Sunday)

For the second and final GTC race of the weekend Khun Narasak once again started from pole but the KTM driver wouldn’t have it all his own way as Khun Manat lined up alongside and was looking for revenge after having been forced into non start the previous day when an electrical issue affected his Toyota.

At the green lights Khun Narasak got away cleanly and powered into Turn 1 in the lead but with a fast starting Khun Manat all over the back of the KTM while the second factory Toyota, the #19 entry of Khun Suttipong, slotted into third place. Then came Khun Pete in fourth and Khun Attapot in fifth.

Khun Manat really wanted P1 and he hustled Khun Narasak on the fast run down to Turn 3 but the KTM covered the inside line and held on. Further ahead one of the GTM cars was laying down a trail of oil through the esses and that saw the Safety Car being deployed. However before that occurred Khun Manat squeezed past and into the lead and so the top order as the GTC cars reduced speed and formed up in a queue was Khun Manat from Khun Narasak, Khun Suttipong, Khun Pete and Khun Rudolf.

At the restart following quite a lengthy Safety Car period, Khun Manat controlled the pack away but with Khun Narasak swarming all over him, while Khun Pete swiftly lined up Khun Suttipong for third place. The Toyota and KTM set a ferocious pace at the front and Khun Narasak eventually grabbed the lead but he would never break free from the Toyota all race.

However for these two gladiators the race had already gone wrong as they were both slapped with a post race 30 second penalty for a flag infringement and with a very late deployment of the Safety Car that closed the pack right up and with just a few laps of green flag remaining running to the finish the leading duo didn’t have enough time to pull out a cushion and offset their penalties and that meant they both finished off the podium in sixth and seventh place with Khun Narasak keeping a slender advantage over his rival to the line.

With those two out of the way Khun Pete dug in and pulled out a great drive to take the win, which was the first ever victory in Thailand’s top flight for rotary power. With Khun U-tain backing up his teammate with an excellent fifth place on his GTC debut weekend that meant a double podium for the Mazdas and also that the PTT Yokohama RZ KS The Pizza Company team had bagged the Teams’ trophy for a second consecutive day. And while there was a DNF for Khun Narin in the #13 RX-7, he was sidelined after a few laps by a turbo wastegate problem, this driver, who is starting his second year with the team, is another to have raised his game and looked quick all weekend.

Rotary Revolution had never won the Teams’ trophy before, now they had wrapped it up twice, this is a team going places in a hurry. The team embarked on its ambitious new build programme focused around the RX-7 a year ago and the first car only debuted last September at the Bira Circuit round but, coupled to a development hike for Khun Pete’s RX-8 at the same time, the results have been sensational and for one of the smallest teams on the grid, which makes up with passion what it lacks in budget, it was a great payback for many late nights. It also proved just what Thai teams can achieve and emphasised the core DNA of GTC that is to allow local technical learning and development to prosper. Few teams left Buriram in a more upbeat mood.

But Khun Pete didn’t have an easy win as Khun Rudolf and Khun Suttipong chased him across the line, the trio covered by just eight tenths of a second. For Khun Rudolf it was a superb debut weekend in GTC with two runners up spots from the two races and that puts him right in the title chase.

Third place for Khun Suttipong gave the Toyota Team Manager his second podium of the weekend following on from his fifth place the previous day and restored the team’s honour after Khun Manat was hit with a time penalty.

There was plenty of satisfaction for B-Quik Racing as Khun Attapot brought his Porsche home for fourth place, just 3.8 seconds off the Toyota in front, an excellent 15 laps worth of work from this driver on his Super Car debut weekend. Khun U-tain wrapped up the podium positions in fifth place while Khun Narasak and Khun Manat rounded out the classified finishers in sixth and seventh places respectively. The only retirement was the Mazda of Khun Narin, which dropped out after 4 laps, while the Mitsubishi Evo X of Khun Prateep was a non-starter.

In the Super Car GTC Drivers’ championship (after two races) Khun Pete, with a win and a third place from the opening weekend, moves into the lead with 32 points, but it’s very tight indeed and Khun Rudolf is just two points adrift thanks to his pair of second places while Khun Narasak is third on 26 points and Khun Suttipong fourth on 20 points. It means just 10 points cover the top four in the classification and with six races to go it could be anyone’s title. Then comes Khun Attapot (16 points) followed by Khun Narin (10), Khun U-tain (8) and Khun Manat (4). Any of this quartet has the opportunity to haul themselves up to the title fight when GTC resumes here in July.

In the Super Car GTC Teams’ championship the Yokohama RZ KS The Pizza Company outfit has made an impressive start to the year and departed from the North East with 50 points while in second place Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport has 30 points. Then come Vattana Motorsport (26), Toyota Team Thailand (24) and B-Quik Racing (16).