Phoenix Racing Asia’s Marchy Lee turned in one of the best drives of his long career to record the team’s maiden GT Asia Series victory at Buriram, the Hong Kong-based driver, together with rising Audi star Shaun Thong prevailing in the Thailand heat despite some strong competition right from the opening lap.
Carlo Van Dam stole the initial advantage from Thong during an intense qualifying session, the experienced Dutch driver taking the Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 he shares with local hero Piti Bhirombhakdi to the top spot from Shuan Thong by a mere three one hundredths of a second. Ultimately the top six cars were separated by just half a second.
The second qualifier saw another battle for the top of the timesheets, this time a repeat performance of what we witnessed in South Korea, with Marchy Lee and Anthony Liu going head-to-head separated by just hundredths of a second. In the end it was Liu who claimed the top spot, displacing Lee in the final seconds of the session for pole, with Lamborghini’s Andrea Amici third.
The action started from the opening lap of the first 60-minute race, with a penalty for the FFF Racing Lamborghini, whilst up front Carlo Van Dam held the field at bay. Davide Rizzo was the big mover early as Shaun Thong faded with a brake pressure issue, but the Italian Ferrari driver had a spin whilst battling for second.
With Van Dam pitting from the lead to hand the car to Piti, Duncan Tappy took over the top spot before his stop. Sadly, despite rejoining with a comfortable lead, which he extended with every lap, Piti was forced to endure a drive-through penalty for leaving his pit bay too soon during the compulsory stop.
By that stage Marchy Lee had charged back through the field to catch and overtake the Bentley’s of Vutthikorn and Andrew Kim to claim an emphatic win for the Hong Kong-based team.
Qualifying #1
Faced with significantly cooler temperatures for the morning session, the pace in qualifying was always expected to be hot. Points leader Jonathan Venter was first to open an account in the #8 Bentley Team Absolute machine, but he was quickly displaced by Phoenix Racing Asia’s Shaun Thong, Ferrari’s Davide Rizzo and team-mates Adderly Fong and Duncan Tappy.
Thong was quickly to the top with a best of 1:33.585, but he was displaced by Tappy before officials eliminated the Englishman’s best time for exceeding track limits. With ten minutes to go though, Carlo Van Dam turned in a blinding lap to set the benchmark at 1:33.249.
All the leaders attacked, Thong coming closest to fall just three one hundredths short. As much of the field started to file down pit lane, Van Dam circulated like a hungry shark waiting for prey, but no-one was willing to challenge the Thai-based driver to stop him from claiming pole.
“We were maybe not expected to be the fastest, but I got in a good lap,” Van Dam explained. “I know the track well, and that helped me get pole – it’s just a pole position, but I’m satisfied. The track temperatures are higher than they were when we were here last year and the conditions aren’t as good, so I expected a pole time in the low 33s.”
Qualifying #2
Session two was very much a matter of deja-vu after Marchy Lee and Anthony Liu resumed their South Korean battle for pole position, but this time it was the Chinese Ferrari star who emerged as the quicker of the two, displacing Lee’s top time in the dying stages of the session to take the top spot, his impressive 1:33.334 less than a tenth slower than Van Dam in Q1.
Third was Andrea Amici in the FFF Racing Lamborghini, who like a number of drivers in the second session didn’t take new tyres, electing to qualify on the same tyres used in Q1. New Bentley recruit Fabian Hamprecht was next, ahead of local hero Piti Bhirombhakdi who set an impressive 1:34.766 to be comfortably the best of the amateur drivers.
In the battle for GTC honours in qualifying, Aekrat Discharoen set the fastest time to claim pole in Q2, but it was points leader Kantasak Kusiri who claimed the top spot for Singha Plan-B Motorsport in Q1.
Race#1 (60-minutes)
The action started even before the lights went green with Liberati in the FFF Racing Lamborghini well out of position, a situation which saw the young Italian faced with a drive through penalty almost immediately.
Up front Van Dam controlled the start to lead Thong into turn one, but almost immediately the young Audi driver started to drift back with a brake pressure issue allowing Adderly Fong and Davide Rizzo to move forward, the gold aApe machine dropping back into the clutches of the experienced Richard Lyons who was quickly up to P6.
Rizzo looked menacing as he started to monster the rear of Fong who could do little about the Singha Ferrari in front of him but maintain a gap.
Sadly for Rizzo a spin as he tried to negotiate a way past the Bentley dropped him back down the order, allowing Tappy to close in on his team-mate.
Another team who were lamenting what might have been were Alex Yoong and Alex Au in the second Phoenix Racing Asia entry. They were forced to withdraw ahead of the compulsory pit stop window with another gearbox issue, this time an overheating alarm for Yoong which forced him down pit lane and retirement, frustration for the Malaysian after a strong start to the race saw him battling at the tail of the leading pack.
Venter was one of the first in during the compulsory pit stop, the points leader emerging from the car clearly affected by the heat.. “My cool suit stopped working and the helmet cooling system I run fell off after two laps, so it was pretty warm inside the car,” he lamented.
Van Dam ultimately hit the pits in the closing stages of the pit stop window, handing Tappy the lead, the 2015 race Thailand winner stopping the lap after to hand the car to Vutthikorn.
Piti emerged as the leader, eight seconds down the road from the two Bentleys, with Vutthikorn emerging third, but quickly through on team-mate Kim for second.
Neither could do anything about the Thai Ferrari driver who started to extend his advantage, punching out some impressive laps before a notification that no driver ever wants to hear.. Drive through penalty..
Ultimately it turned out that the TP12 Racing Ferrari had left pit lane three seconds ahead of it’s minimum allotted time, dropping Piti back down the order, which allowed Marchy Lee a clear run to the chequered flag.
Having taken over from Thong in fifth place, Lee had charged out of the pits, and he was quickly onto the tail of the two battling Bentleys, neither of which provided him too much opposition as he charged into P2, and ultimately inherited the lead.
From there the former GT Asia Series race winner continued to push, crossing the line more than four seconds clear of Vutthikorn, with Andrew Kim third.
Piti recovered from his run down pit lane to claim fourth, from the recovering BBT Ferrari and Andrea Amici who was also recovering from a drive through penalty. Frank Yu crossed the line seventh for Craft-Bamboo Racing ahead of George Richardson in the GruppeM Racing Porsche. Sadly the second Craft-Bamboo Porsche failed to finish after two separate tyre failures, the second of which saw damage to the front right of the VLT machine.
In the battle for GTC class honours, Aekrat Discharoen emerged on top, the Porsche driver weathering an early Ferrari storm from Kantasak Kusiri and Tin Sritrai to claim victory, with 2015 race winner Voravud Bhirombhakdi second and points leader Bhurit Bhirombhakdi third.
What the drivers had to say;
1. Marchy Lee (#5 Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3)
“It was extremely hot.. I kept my head down because I knew it was a big gap, but Audi has built a very good race car and we managed the tyre very well and I think that was the key point for this race.”
1. Shaun Thong (#5 Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3)
“I’d built up too much heat in the brakes which meant I had to wait two laps until I could get maximum pressure back, and I lost two positions in the process. I was really looking for a much better start, but thanks to Marchy for pushing really hard to take the positions back.”
2. Duncan Tappy (#9 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
“For whatever reason we couldn’t quite bring home the win like we did last year, but I think second is a pretty good result, especially as it’s the first time we’ve driven together [with Vutthikorn].”
2. Vutthikon Inthrapuvasak (#9 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
“From the beginning I managed to overtake Andrew, but after that I wasn’t happy with my pace, the car felt like it had too much understeer so I had to change my driving style, and my pace started to improve. I thought we’d crossed the line third, because I didn’t know what had happened to Piti.”
3. Adderly Fong (#7 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
“I was happier with the start, especially compared to last year [Fong missed a crucial start in 2015], but it was actually quite difficult to pick the actual start point. I kept my line though and managed to hold out the #37 Ferrari. Buriram is such a challenge, especially because it’s so hot here and with the front-engined layout of our car the heat permeates into the cabin of the car.”
3. Andrew Kim (#7 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
“Vutti caught me early in the stint, but I thought I’d let him go and try to take the position back later, and when Marchy caught and passed me, I thought I might have a chance to follow him through but I just couldn’t make it stick.”
Teams now turn their focus to the second race at Buriram, again held in the heat of the early afternoon (2:00pm), for another 60-minute battle around the 4.554-kilometre Chang International Circuit.
This season Fox Sports Asia and Star Sports in China will broadcast every event of GT Asia Series live (race two in full, with highlights of the opening race), whilst the series itself will also live-stream every round with veteran commentators Jonathan Green – the voice of GT Asia – joined by Steve Martin to call both live television and live streaming.
Details of the streams and the broadcast times will be available on the GT Asia Series website – www.gtasiaseries.com – and through social media; www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries will also post news, video clips, images and updates, and you can also get involved in the conversation on www.twitter.com/GTAsiaSeries
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 solely managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and is backed by Singha, Michelin, KW Automotive, Motul, Race Room, Panta and YOFC.
Chang International Circuit, Buriram, Thailand (11 June)
Qualifying#1 (15-minutes)
1. 12. Carlo Van Dam (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:33.249
2. 5. Shaun Thong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:33.279
3. 8. Adderly Fong (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 1:33.371
4. 37. Davide Rizzo (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) – 1:33.411
5. 9. Duncan Tappy (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 1:33.596
6. 55. Edoardo Liberati (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) – 1:33.818
7. 88. Richard Lyons (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 1:34.219
8. 8. Jonathan Venter (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 1:34.310
9. 6. Alex Yoong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:34.337
10. 91. Darryl O’Young (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 1:34.944
11. 98. Tim Sugden (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 1:35.483
12. 59. Kantasak Kusiri (Singha Plan-B Motorsport Ferrari 458 Challenge*) – 1:38.399
13. 11. Aekrat Discharoen (True Vision Motorsports Porsche 991 Cup Car*) – 1:38.713
14. 89. Tin Sritrai (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Challenge*) – 1:38.833
Qualifying#2 (15-minutes)
1. 37. Anthony Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) – 1:33.334
2. 5. Shaun Thong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:33.619
3. 55. Andrea Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) – 1:34.228
4. 8. Fabian Hamprecht (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 1:34.683
5. 12. Piti Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:34.766
6. 7. Andrew Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 1:34.828
7. 9. Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 1:34.902
8. 98. George Richardson (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 1:35.198
9. 91. Naiyanobh Bhirombakdi (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 1:36.153
10. 6. Alex Au (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:36.285
11. 88. Frank Yu (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 1:36.883
12. 11. Aekrat Discharoen (True Vision Motorsports Porsche 991 Cup Car*) – 1:38.304
13. 89. Voravud Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Challenge*) – 1:38.754
14. 59. Bhurit Bhirombhakdi (Singha Plan-B Ferrari 458 Challenge*) – 1:40.469
Race#1 (60-minutes)
1. 5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 37-laps
2. 9. Tappy/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +4.234
3. 7. Fong/Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +9.282
4. 12. Van Dam/Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) +23.444
5. 37. Rizzo/Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) +27.663
6. 55. Liberati/Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +46.017
7. 88. Lyons/ Yu (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) +51.505
8. 98. Sugden/Richardson (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) +61.060
9. 8. Venter/Hamprecht (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +61.370
10. 11. Aekrat Discharoen (True Vision Motorsports Porsche 991 Cup Car*) – 35-laps
12. 89. Sritrai/Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Challenge*)
13. 59. Kusiri/Bhirombhakdi (Singha Plan-B Motorsport Ferrari 458 Challenge*)
DNF. 91. O’Young/Bhirombakdi (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 31-laps
DNF. 6. Yoong/Au (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 13-laps