There’s no slowdown in the relentless pace for B-Quik Racing as we head into the closing stages of the season. In fact our two biggest events of the year are also the two final ones. First up comes the 9th Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival next week before our year ends in Malaysia with the Sepang 12 Hours in the middle of next month.
That means everyone in the team will have to work extra hard with absolute focus and efficiency as our #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup will firstly be used by lead driver Henk J. Kiks around the streets of Bangsaen next week before it’s returned to our raceshop in Bangkok to be prepared and reconfigured ready to be swiftly shipped south for the 12-hour endurance race. However our skilled and dedicated technicians will take this all in their stride.
Bangsaen follows on from an already glorious November for the team as our last two races events have seen B-Quik Racing putting 2015 into our history books as a highly successful year. The team has actually been running in international championships for the first time this year and we have come away with three titles, that’s a stunning success and, particularly, is a rare double achievement abroad for a Thai team. In the ‘Audi R8 Cup’ Daniel Bilski won the highly prestigious R8 Cup Amateur title against a field of top drivers drawn from across Asia while in the Asia Classic Car Challenge we nabbed the overall honour as Henk and Daniel claimed the Class R and Class O titles respectively.
We thrive on winning and that’s given the team a real lift as we set about preparing the cars for Bangsaen and we unashamedly have placed our sights on more podium glory in Thailand’s most important motorsport event.
While Henk will drive the #26 Audi as usual, in fact it will be his second year in this car at Bangsaen, we will have a substitution as Darryl O’Young returns to the team to pilot our #27 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. That’s because Daniel, who has driven the car all year, has a prior commitment and thus has to miss the season closer. Darryl was the logical choice as he stepped into the car last year and on his first visit to Bangsaen won both races in Super Car Class 2-GTM.
The Hong Kong driver comes into the event in blistering form having won the GT Asia Series Drivers’ title this year and is in razor sharp street racing form as this coming weekend he will contest the inaugural FIA GT World Cup which will be a headline event of the Macau Grand Prix.
Aside from the Audi and Porsche in Super Car Class 2-GTM Nattaphon Rattanawong and Attapot Sriprom will as usual be driving our two Honda Brio entries in Super Eco.
Henk J. Kiks (#26 Audi R8 LMS Cup): “It’s been a very good year internationally for the team and now it’s time to get focused to end the domestic season on a strong note before we turn our attention to the Sepang 12 Hours. It’s been a bit of an up and down year for us in TSS but we’re in good shape for Bangsaen and we’re looking to the podium. It’s good to have Darryl back with us as we hunt down the Teams’ trophy, he performed superbly last year in the Porsche and knows the track and team well now so should be fast from the off.”
Darryl O’Young (#27 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup): “It’s a real pleasure to return to Bangsaen with B-Quick Racing. We had a strong weekend last year with the team, and we’ll be aiming to achieve the same success this time around. The team has worked hard all year to improve our car, so I expect it to be faster as we have learned from our weaknesses from last year’s race. I expect the competition to be stronger this year so we will have to work harder and look at all the details to ensure we can have a chance to win again. Thank you to Henk for giving me this opportunity to return and defend our Bangsaen title. Lastly, I know the organisers of the race have been working very hard since last year to improve the track safety and conditions, so thank you to them for the hard work and ensuring all the drivers have an enjoyable and safe track to compete on.”