Hong Kong’s Matt Solomon received a surprise call the week immediately following his impressive Formula Masters China Series performance at Sepang – an invitation to join the Absolute Racing outfit for the forthcoming Malaysia Medeka Endurance Race at the very same venue behind the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra.
Solomon was no stranger to the Absolute Racing outfit – who are responsible for Audi R8 LMS Cup in Asia – nor the R8 GT3 ultra, a car he enjoyed during the opening round of GT Asia in South Korea earlier in the season as part of the Absolute team, but the Sepang 12-Hour provided a whole new range of experiences for the rising young star..
“It was an amazing weekend, a fantastic result for my first ever endurance race,” Solomon explained. “The experience was amazing, from my first time driving in the dark on Tuesday night to my first experience of driving for 75-minutes in one session, it was quite a different challenge.
“Going into the weekend we knew we had a strong lineup with Alex Imperatori, Henri Moser and myself.
“It started on Tuesday when Alex and I arrived at the track and spent most of the day preparing our race setup with the Absolute Racing team and did a number of long simulation runs.
“I had my first run in the dark and did a 60-minute stint which was quite interesting. I was quick during the day, but the night session was a lot different – it was a very different ball game, but I really enjoyed it.
“On Wednesday we did our qualifying runs, and again I was pretty quick – only three tenths off Alex’s pace – which was good, and I was very happy with that.
“On Thursday Henri arrived, so much of the day was devoted to him getting used to the car and learning the track because it was his first time at Sepang. I managed to get another 45-minutes in on Thursday night and went quite a lot quicker than I had on Tuesday night, so I was happy getting the hang of night driving. Piloting the Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra was just amazing – it’s significantly different to the R8 Cup car that I usually drive – it has a lot more downforce, and it’s a stiffer car so it felt more rigid, more like a single-seater, so I adapted quite quickly.
“Friday was all about qualifying – three sessions for the three drivers, with the overall time set as an average of the three. We were on the Michelin tyre, whereas the Clearwater Ferraris, the Nexus Ferrari and the Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin were all on the Yokohama, and they’d brought their ‘special’ tyre which was significantly faster than their regular tyre, so we were quite a bit down on pace as a result.
“In the end we qualified fifth, which was decent and a good place to start a 12-Hour endurance race. As the top Audi and Michelin team, we were pretty happy.
“Alex started the race on Saturday and got off to a great start and was up to third at one point, but with the pace of the Ferraris and the Aston, we dropped back to fifth, and came under pressure from the Mies/Eddy/Cini Audi on Yokohamas which proved quite a bit quicker so we dropped down to sixth before a Safety Car was called.
“The Absolute Racing engineers made a great call and pulled Alex straight into the pits, and I was ready to take over pretty quickly and took my place behind the wheel and actually came out of the pits in second place. It was a fantastic call from the team, and a great pit stop by the crew making up a lot of ground on the other teams as a result.
“I had a good 75-minutes in the car, but with the pace of the Ferraris with the ‘Pro’ drivers behind the wheel, they were quicker than us so I dropped back to fourth, but ahead of the Nexus Ferrari which started in P4.
“At the end of my first stint I gave the car to Henri, well within striking range of the Craft-Bamboo Aston and he completed his stint in fourth which is where we stayed for most of the day. Everything was going according to plan, and I jumped in for my second stint around 4:00 in the afternoon. It was pretty hot at the start, but had cooled down by the time I’d completed my run and my times were pretty quick as a result.
“We had another great pit-stop – all our pit stops bar one were under two minutes – and I think most of the teams were averaging just over, or right on two minutes, so it was a fantastic effort from our crew.
“As night fell, Henri and Alex were in the car, and the lap times were starting to fall. My third stint came around 8:00 in the evening so it was properly dark and the track was a lot cooler than it had been, so I kept a very consistent pace, but it was challenging passing all the traffic in the dark – the first time I’d ever had to do that, so it was a very interesting stint.
“We were still running fourth with an hour and a half to go, but we had to pit for an unscheduled stop during Henri’s stint with an issue at the rear of the car – he lost all braking and couldn’t stop the car, so he had to come in.
“We lost about four to five laps on the leaders, but the boys did a fantastic job replacing the entire system on all four corners including discs and pads, and did it all within ten minutes of coming into the pits, so it was an incredible job to find and fix it inside that time.
“We rejoined the race and just a few laps later the Aston came in for what was supposed to be a routine stop, but was quickly taken into the garage where they lost about ten laps. During that time Henri was completing a sequence of strong laps to take the third position away from the Aston.
“Alex got back in for the final stint, with the Aston rejoining immediately behind but a lap down, so Alex let him through and stayed within reach keeping a steady pace over the final minutes as the clock wound down and we crossed the line in third place.
“It was a fantastic result for the Absolute Racing team and everyone involved. It wasn’t an easy race considering the handicap we had with the tyres and the pace we struggled for, but we prevailed in the end. A big part of our success was the crew and their faultless pit stops, but all our drivers completed the 12-Hours without a single driving error or issue, so it was a great result and I’m very happy to have been on the podium in my first ever endurance race.
“Hopefully this is just the beginning for me, but I have to send all my thanks to Absolute Racing, Superga, RUSH and Pangaea Creative for supporting me and I hope my next endurance event isn’t too far off into the future.”
Matt’s focus now returns to the Formula Masters China Series and Audi R8 LMS Cup, as both return to China with race events on two consecutive weekends. Matt will return to the wheel of his Eurasia ‘HULK’ for the fifth race on the calendar on September 19-21 at Zhuhai, before heading to Guangzhou the following weekend for the fourth event of Audi R8 LMS Cup for Audi Hong Kong.
2014 Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race – Sepang 12-Hour
Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia – 29-31 August
Qualifying (combined times of three drivers)
1. Mok/Hamdan/Bruni (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 2:03.882
2. Yu/Mucke/Luff (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3) – 2:04.004
3. Wee/Sawa/Baird (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 2:04.364
4. D’Silva/Moh/Ang (Nexus Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 2:05.372
5. Imperatori/Moser/Solomon (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 2:05.607
6. Eddy/Cini/Mies (MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 2:06.704
7. Lee/Fong/Vignali (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 2:07.022
8. Skyangel/Richard/Twigg/Chong (Arrows Racing Lamborghini GT3) – 2:07.785
9. Chua/Chua/Cheang (MIKE Racing Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 2:09.451
10. Dewal/Yeung/Lee (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GTC) – 2:11.790
Race (12-Hours)
1. Mok/Hamdan/Bruni (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 325-laps
2. Wee/Sawa/Baird (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 324-laps
3. Imperatori/Moser/Solomon (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 316-laps
4. Yu/Mucke/Luff (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3) – 316-laps
5. D’Silva/Moh/Ang (Nexus Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 315-laps
6. Eddy/Cini/Mies (MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra) – 310-laps
7. Chua/Chua/Cheang (MIKE Racing Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) – 297-laps
8. Dowsett/Curran/Bamber/Tan (Team NZ Porsche 997 Cup Car GTC) – 291-laps
9. Kiks/Bilski/Garcia (B-Quik Racing Audi R8 LMS GTC) – 285-laps
10. Skyangel/Richard/Twigg/Chong (Arrows Racing Lamborghini GT3) – 281-laps