Pasin Lathouras has enjoyed a very positive ‘warm up’ to the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona (’24 Hours of Daytona’) having just taken part in the official pre race test sessions held at the Daytona International Speedway last weekend (9-11 January). The Thai driver and his two teammates showed a promising pace in the #49 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia and their focus now turns to the endurance race, which takes place in 11 days time.
Known as the ‘Roar before the 24’, the Official Test was held over three days and split into eight sessions, two taking place last Friday, four on Saturday and the last two on Sunday. Importantly, the final 90-minute track session on Saturday was held late in the evening and that gave Pasin his first taste of the legendary 5.73-km, 12-turn permanent course, which includes sharply banked sections of up to 32-degrees, in the darkness.
Pasin, who is being supported during the Rolex 24 at Daytona by NaRaYa, Enigma and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), will drive for AF Corse. Along with teammates Michele Rugolo (Italy), Matt Griffin (Ireland) and Rui Aguas (Portugal), he will race a Ferrari 458 Italia in ‘GT-Daytona’ (GT-D), which is likely to be the numerically strongest and most competitive category in the race.
During the ‘Roar before the 24’ Pasin shared the #49 car with Michele and Rui as Matt was competing in the Dubai 24 last weekend. It proved a rewarding test for the trio and Pasin was able to take part in all sessions, apart from the eighth and final one as the Italian team elected not to take to the track during due to the deteriorating weather conditions.
The 21-year-old Thai driver thus experienced the circuit in dry and wet conditions, as well as in the early morning and in the dark, giving him a real snapshot of the differing conditions that he will face in the 24 hour race the weekend after next.
Pasin was able to set lap times that consistently placed him amongst best the ‘Silver’ category drivers in the action and with the AF Corse engineers’ satisfied with progress made during the test – Pasin, as well as the team and his teammates, are all looking well prepared for what is set to be the toughest challenge of the Thai youngster’s career so far.
Pasin Lathouras: “It was great to get out at Daytona at last, it’s one of the most legendary circuits in the world and it’s a little bit special to head out of the pitlane for the first time. We had plenty of track time really which was good as well were able to work through the programme and as the test progressed of course I became much more comfortable with the track and car and I was able to start pushing the limits more and more. The first time on the banking is just a really strange feeling; I never experienced anything like it before, there is around 1.8g of g-force and you feel that. The most tricky part of the track I believe is the first corner, which you are reaching at speeds of around 295 km/h, and there isn’t a clear braking marker, while, on top of that, the braking point is also really a corner in itself. The infield is not a lot different to other tracks, but leaving the infield to rejoin the banking of the oval circuit, takes some getting use to. Overall it’s an easy track to remember the corners, but it’s very challenging to get a fast time. I think we had a good test all-in-all and we believe the car is almost ready, just some fine changes to be done and we should be okay for the race.”