Pasin enjoyed a promising start to his build up to next month’s 24 Hours of Spa during the Official Test Day, which took place at Spa-Francorchamps last Wednesday (25 June).
Sharing duties in the #47 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3 with his three teammates for the forthcoming endurance classic, Gianmaria Bruni, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Stéphane Lémeret, the 21-year-old Thai driver got used to driving at Spa-Francorchamps in very busy conditions as around 65 cars were in action on the track during the day.
Although test times don’t always give too accurate an indication, clearly Pasin and his teammates showed they have a robust pace as the #47 Ferrari ended the day as the fastest car in the Pro-Am class and was in fact right in amongst the top runners.
With the team working through its planed setup and test programme and the drivers bedding in together, the Test Day went well.
Following the Test Day Pasin flew straight to Italy to take part in last weekend’s round of the Italian GT Championship at the ‘Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari’ at Imola. Driving alongside his usual 2015 teammate, Michele Rugolo, the pair however endured a tough weekend but still brought the car to the finishline in both races.
In the Qualifying Q1 session to decide the grid for Race 1 Pasin struggled to find a clear lap in the traffic and wound up on the ninth row of the 35-car grid. In the race Pasin and Michele fought tenaciously to pick off places, a task made more difficult by the lack of overtaking opportunities.
However, Pasin, who started the car, made up places steadily before handing over to his teammate at mid distance. Michele continued to make further progress and by the time the race finished the Ferrari was comfortably inside the top ten in P8. A decent reward for what had looked like a very unpromising starting position.
In Race 2 it looked a lot rosier after the Q2 session saw the car start from the front row of the grid. However Michele was tapped from behind during the rolling start, which damaged the diffuser, rear bodywork and right hand rear wheel. A couple of laps later the Italian ran wide over the kerbs and dislodged the rear end further.
At the mid race pitstop the team lost more time removing the damaged bodywork so Pasin could continue in the race. That all threw the car right down the running order but the Thai driver brought the Ferrari safely to the finish, in P13.
In terms of actual results the weekend in Italy wasn’t so rewarding but as it was being used as part of the build up to the 24 Hours of Spa it ticked the boxes as the young Thai driver had to work really hard all weekend and demonstrate plenty of grit and determination.
Pasin Lathouras: “The Spa day went pretty well for us. The first session wasn’t so good though because there were a lot of red flags, but our car felt good and we were able to make a good pace. After lunch during the afternoon session we went well also, we tried many different set ups and at the end of the day we managed to be at the top of the Pro-Am class so we were all happy with how the test day went. The weekend in Italy was a lot tougher and we didn’t seem to get the breaks, it was just one of those weekends where nothing fell our way. We worked hard all weekend, the team did a great job and especially after the damage early in Race 2 it was pleasing to get the car to the finishline.”
Pasin’s attention now turns back to International GT Open with the next round, the fourth of the season, being held at the Red Bull Ring this coming weekend (3-5 July). A full preview will follow later this week.