Pasin Lathouras is heading for the Nürburgring this coming weekend for the final appointment on the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup 2016 calendar and he will be aiming to round out his rookie year in the series with strong finish.
It’s been a competitive and hard fought learning year for the 22-year-old Thai driver in Blancpain GT Endurance Cup, the biggest and most competitive championship for GT cars in the world. But it’s also been very rewarding, as Pasin has raised his game and mixed it with some of the best drivers in the world.
Finishing runner up in the Paul Ricard 1000 km back in June has been the highlight in actually results terms but really as this year is all about developing, and so his performance in the previous round, the 24 Hours of Spa, has been a standout as he posted highly representative lap times during all stints, both day and night, including in the treacherous wet conditions that typified this race while he even survived a tyre blowout at 230 km/h into the daunting Eau Rouge corner in the wet, the youngster superbly collecting the spinning car to limp back to the pits.
Pasin has been driving the new Ferrari 488 GT3 this year so his curve has gone hand in hand with extracting the full potential of this exciting new racecar. For the fifth and final round this weekend, as usual, the Thai driver will share the #50 AF Corse Ferrari with Italians Michele Rugolo and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
For Pasin the ‘new’ 5.148-km/12-turn Nürburgring will be yet another track he has to learn and comes just as he wraps up his third season racing in Europe and his first in Blancpain GT Endurance Cup. He will be aiming to carry the clear step forward in pace he demonstrated during the Spa 24 forward into this weekend and end the season on a strong note, the target of the #50 car will be to chase the podium.
NaRaYa, LaLaMa by NaRaYa, NaRa, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Sport Authority of Thailand are supporting Pasin in Blancpain GT Endurance Cup this year.
Pasin Lathouras: “It seems a while since Spa so I’m really looking forward to getting back on track this weekend. Obviously it’s a new circuit for me to learn so I’m going to have to make the must of the track time and get to grips as quickly as possible. Of course it’s another world-class track so I’m looking forward to it. I hope we can carry the form we had at Spa forward and push towards the podium positions and wrap the Blancpain season up with a good result.”
The Blancpain GT Endurance Cup action starts this coming Saturday morning (17 September) with Free Practice (1105-1235, all times GMT). The opening day’s action concludes with a second 90-minute session, Pre Qualifying (1615-1745). The 1-hour Qualifying session takes place early on Sunday morning (18 September) at 0830-0930 before the 3-hour race, Round 5 of the 2016 Blancpain GT Endurance Cup, gets underway at 1445.