Pasin Lathouras will return to International GT Open action this weekend for the seventh round of the series, which takes place at the legendary Monza Circuit, the Thai youngster arriving in Italy fresh from his debut victory in the championship just three weeks ago.
That win at Spa-Francorchamps represented Pasin’s first outing in International GT Open and the kicked off a late-season two race programme that comes in addition to his core British GT commitment this year. That short but already rewarding GT Open programme will wind up this weekend at Monza.
It certainly was a successful start in the pan-European sportscar series for the AF Corse driver and he will be sharing the #80 Ferrari 458 GT3 again this weekend with Richard Lyons. Pasin will be keen build on that win which represented his first victory of 2014 and it came during the first time that the Ferrari had ran without the extra ballast it has been required to carry in the British GT Championship.
That additional weight has prevented Pasin from fighting for outright wins all year. However, immediately the car was equalised with its rivals he was able to fully capitalise and the Thai certainly plans to once again mix it up at the front over the weekend.
This has been Pasin’s first full season racing in Europe and every track has been new to the 20 year old, he’s been forced to learn each one from scratch during the practice sessions – that is until now. Pasin actually raced at Monza in April 2013 during a one off appearance in the Superstars GTSprint Series which resulted in two impressive podium finishes from the two races – so the youngster will be looking to build on that result.
The Superstars GTS races also marked Pasin’s first drive in a GT3 car – while a year later he certainly knows the powerful Prancing Horse machine very well.
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is one of the world’s most famous racetracks and its ultra high-speed characteristics pose a huge test for any racer. Skill and bravery are both requirements if a driver wants to make the celebratory walk out to the unique retractable podium that hovers above the fans.
This racetrack first hosted competitions in 1922 and that original layout included the fearsome 4.250 km long banked oval, which is one of motorsport history’s biggest icons. The modern day ‘Formula 1′ circuit, which evolved over many decades and has been the long time home to the Monza 1000 kms as well as the Italian Grand Prix, is 5.793 km long with 11 turns and includes swathes of the original layout. It’s one of the fastest and most challenging circuits in the world and each of its sections such as Curva Grande, Rettifilo, Lesmo, Variante Ascari and Parabolica are household names. Pasin professed to instantly love the circuit on his visit last year and is relishing getting back into the fray.
The trip to Monza represents the seventh and penultimate round of the 2014 International GT Open championship and as usual the format centers around two races, of 70- and 60-minutes duration respectively, that feature mid-race pitstops to changeover drivers, fit new tyres and refuel.
Following Monza Pasin will have just one rest day before he heads to America to take part in the 10 hour/1000 mile Petit Le Mans, the final round of the IMSA Tudor SportsCar Championship, where he will also driver with AF Corse.
The action on track at Monza gets underway this morning (Friday, 26 September) with the first free practice session, from 1115-1230 (all times local, CET) with a second practice session scheduled for 1505-1620. Tomorrow morning (Saturday 27 September) will see qualifying takes place for Race 1 from 1105-1125, with the 70 minute race due to get underway at 1600. Sunday (28 September) will enjoy a broadly similar format, albeit with earlier timings, as the qualifying session will be held from 0940-1000 while Race 2 goes to green lights at 1300 and is scheduled to run for 60 minutes.
Pasin Lathouras: “I’m looking forward to this weekend for sure, I really enjoyed my first experience at Monza last year and after the success Richard and I had at Spa a few weeks back, without the weight that we had in British GT again, we will do our best to carry that momentum forward. This is very competitive series so we will have to fight hard all the way but I hope that if all goes to plan we can make a good push for the podium again especially as we have a strong team and a strong car. Hopefully we can round the European season off with a great result, particularly as this will be something of a home race for AF Corse.”