TCR International Series has arrived in Thailand for this weekend’s eighth round of its season – and there’s set to be a real twist of local flavour in the proceedings as several of our teams and drivers have seized this opportunity to pitch themselves up against some of the best drivers in the world of TCR having obtained ‘wildcard’ entries into this round.
Meanwhile the second round of the Thailand Super Series (TSS) season, held in Buriram last month, saw plenty of highly competitive action playing out across all the support classes as the strength in depth of the programme continued to resonate – that included Super Car GTC, Super 2000 and Super Production. When Super Car GTC resumed battle for Race 3 and 4 of the year Khun Narasak Ittritpong in the Vattana Motorsport KTM X-Bow GT4 came straight out of the blocks and really asserted his grip on the ‘junior’ category with two entirely comfortable wins out of two races.
In Super 2000 Honda Civic driver Khun Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya took a win and a third place in the North East to move clear of his rivals in the championship standings at the halfway point of the season and he looks to be well on course for the title while the other victory of the weekend went to Khun Munkong Sathienthirakul who climbed onto the top step of the podium for the first time this year.
Khun Hideharu Kuroki is asserting a vice like grip on Super Production this year, he took two wins out of two at Round 2 and add that to the two wins he claimed at the season opener back in May, that’s four out of four and this experienced driver who has now moved thirty points clear of his closest rival.
Preview: TCR International Series Rd 8, Buriram
The ‘world championship’ series of TCR arrives in Thailand having already taken in rounds so far this year at tracks including Spa-Francorchamps, Imola and Sochi. Now it is the turn of Buriram. Following the conclusion of this round the racecars will be shipped to Singapore where they will support the F1 ‘night race’ before completing its four race Asian leg to end to the season with a trip to Sepang Circuit and finally a key supporting role at the Macau Grand Prix.
But attention is now firmly on the Buriram round and in TCR International Series the championship standings simply couldn’t be any closer as Stefano Comini (Leopard Racing VW Golf GTi) leads Pepe Oriola (Craft-Bamboo SEAT Léon) by just a single point, it’s currently 169 and 168 points respectively. This pair took a win apiece when TCR International Series visited Thailand for the first time ever last year – so they will certainly be up to speed with the circuit and both will be gunning for nothing less than the top step of the podium. Comini though will be carrying the maximum ballast available, 30 kg, as the Swiss driver won a race during the last round in Sochi.
Meanwhile, Oriola’s Craft-Bamboo teammate, James Nash, is breathing down their necks though as he’s currently on 161 points while Comini’s Leopard Racing teammate, Jean-Karl Vernay, is currently fourth and 22 points adrift of the top spot. 37 points cover the top six in the classification so they all are still in with a very robust chance of the title; that order includes former F1 driver Gianni Morbidelli.
The racecars that come with the ‘International Series’ will arguably be of more interest to Thai teams and drivers, many of whom are mulling buying new mounts to use in the fast-expanding TCR Thailand. While the bulk of the grid will comprise of the SEAT Léon and Honda Civic that form the backbone of TCR Thailand, three further brands will also be in action: Volkswagen, Alfa Romeo and Subaru.
The VW Golf GTi is certainly a well-proven quantity; indeed it’s currently leading the TCR International Series Drivers’ championship in the hands of Spaniard Oriola and also took the top step of the podium when TCR Asia Series recently visited here. However the other two are less well known.
The Top Run-built Subaru Impreza WRX STi has made sporadic appearances in TCR International Series over the last year and a half as its development curve continues and after taking in the first two rounds the team went back to the drawing board, as Team Manager Renato Russo explained to TCR: “Following the meeting we had in Tokyo with Subaru STi, we have built a brand new car that features a number of technical improvements and some new parts that are better suited to the TCR regulations. The new car successfully went through an intensive testing programme and was later shipped to Thailand where our technical staff will be assisted by David Rowe of MoTec for the engine management and Hiroshi Nakagawa of TEIN for the dampers.”
Experienced Italian Luca Rangoni conducted that testing and he will drive the car in Buriram. This weekend will see the team run one Impreza but they plan to get up to speed quickly. “We have also upgraded our first car to the same specifications – the one that was raced in the last events of 2015 and in the first two of the current season – and that has been shipped to Singapore,” Russo says. “We will run both cars there, in Malaysia and at Macau.” The Subaru Impreza, a model that resonates in Thailand, should be of plenty of interest this weekend.
Meanwhile, being seen for the first time in Thailand will the Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR. Built by Milanese turner Romeo Ferraris there will be two examples in action for Czech driver Petr Fulín and Italian lady racer Michela Cerruti. Apart from somewhat sporadically on the local classic scene, Thailand hasn’t seen an Alfa Romeo in top level competitive track action for some years, notably a former DTM series Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti raced here nearly a decade ago and the two Giuliettas are likely to provoke plenty of interest.
That’s the ‘International Series’ contingent that will arrive here this week. However the big interest for Thailand will be the participation of most of TCR Thailand teams, namely Krating Daeng, Vattana Motorsport, TBN MK Ihere and Sloth Racing – all of which have secured ‘wildcard’ entries into the prestigious event.
Krating Daeng will have the biggest representation with three cars, drafting in all three drivers that it fielded in the previous round of TCR Thailand last month. Season long drivers Chen Jian Hong and Grant Supaphong will be in their SEATs as usual while Alexander Mies will return to the cockpit of the third car the 24-year-old German driver having made his debut with the team last month as a guest driver. Then Alexander had both a new track to learn and in fact was driving a front wheel car for the first time so it was a steep curve – so he should be much better prepared to mix it in this time.
Vattana Motorsport will have Jack Lemvard and Narasak Ittritpong in their SEAT Léon and Honda Civic respectively, the latter arriving off the back of a win in the last round of TCR Thailand, his debut in the domestic series. The former, a former Asian Touring Car Championship winner, is relishing the chance to mix it up with the stars. “I’m extremely excited to have the opportunity to race in the TCR International Series and I will do my best to show my potential against the championship’s top drivers,” Jack said during the recent press conference in Bangkok to official launch the event.
Then there is an exciting new name as one of our leading young drivers, Kantadhee Kusiri, will be driving a Honda Civic for Team Eakie BBR Kaiten. Last year he raced in Super 2000 and is currently racing a Dallara-Toyota F3 car across Europe in EuroFormula Open for RP Motorsport so his name will make a welcome return to the grid in Thailand. Team Eakie Owner Anothai Eamlumnow says that at the moment this represents a one off entry but they hope it will lead to a full season of TCR Thailand in 2017 with Kantadhee of course behind the wheel.
Also on the entry list will be Munkong Sathienthirakul; he will be driving a VW Golf GTi for Engstler Motorsport, one of the leading teams in TCR International Series. Munkong, who is also racing in Super 2000 this year at the wheel of a Honda Civic FD, already has sporadic appearances in TCR cars behind him, including when TCR International Series and TCR Asia Series combined in Buriram last year. Then, driving a Craft-Bamboo SEAT, he claimed a first and second place in the two races in the Asia Series classification and that equated into a ninth and eleventh place overall in the International Series so clearly he will be looking to chip his way into the top ten this weekend. He knows the track well so should be quick all weekend.
The big advantage that all the Thai drivers and teams will have going up against the best TCR drivers in the world this weekend is – equality. That’s the cornerstone of the TCR concept, to allow everyone a platform to develop and be competitive. The cars in TCR International Series are at the same performance platform as the cars in TCR Thailand, and importantly both use the same Michelin control tyres so there is no differential in the tyres.
The inaugural season of TCR Thailand is progressing very well and that’s provided a useful backdrop for the arrival of TCR International Series. As soon as the concept was announced it was very clear that ‘TCR’ would resonate here and tick all the boxes that needed ticking. ‘Touring car’ level racing has always been very popular in Thailand with full grids, but equality of the cars and cost control have been big issues and as Thai drivers are now busy looking to race internationally our local regulations didn’t offer that opportunity.
TCR has addressed those issues at a stroke; equality of the cars creates a level playing field where drivers can compete against each other with confidence and crucially they can also make the most of the international opportunities. Having both TCR International Series and TCR Asia Series visiting Buriram this year is an unrivalled chance for our drivers and teams to measure themselves up against top internationals on an equal footing – and within a cost effective comfort zone of racing on a track they know well, which also reduces costs. It’s an ideal first step.
That TCR Thailand competitors were able to measure up against the best in TCR Asia Series when it came here last month has given everyone a confidence booster – now the ‘world championship’ provides the next big test.
Racing Spirit has made a major investment to support TCR Thailand in all key areas, including in parts support, and after two events it’s progressing well, interest is growing fast. We’re also proud of the fact that we’re the first domestic TCR series in Asia – and that in itself emphasises just where Thai motorsport is going and TCR is a good reflection of that. Now we welcome TCR International Series and we wish all our drivers and teams good luck this coming weekend.
TCR International Series: Schedule
Saturday, 1100 – Free Practice 1
Saturday, 1255 – Free Practice 2
Saturday, 1525 – Qualifying
Sunday, 1225 – Race 1
Sunday, 1355 – Race 2
Thailand Super Series 2016 Rd 2 (Buriram): Super Car GTC
Super Car GTC resumed battle in Buriram last month for Race 3 and 4 of the year and Narasak Ittritpong in the Vattana Motorsport KTM X-Bow GT4 really asserted his grip on the ‘junior’ category with two entirely comfortable wins from the two races.
Add those to his debut victory in the KTM here back in May during the season opener and he’s bagged three wins out of the four races so far and at the season’s halfway point looks to have established a firm grip on the championship standings. The wins were convincing too, in the first race Narasak had a massive 43 second cushion at the finishline while in the second race he edged half a minute clear.
With three maximum points scores from the four races so far Narasak has moved up to 66 points – that puts him 18 points clear of his closest rival. With Bira and Bangsaen likely to better suit the KTM than Buriram it’s ominous for his rivals and it doesn’t at the moment seem too obvious where a serious challenge to him is going to come from. The driver himself, after an unproductive couple of seasons in Super Car where he had been sporadically driving Vattana Motorsport’s ageing Mitsubishi Evo, has now been really set loose in the KTM. “We have got the new record in GTC, we follow our plan and first is the final answer for us,” he said. “I love this car so much.”
Toyota Team Thailand bounced back into a rich vein of form in Buriram in Super Car GTM and the factory outfit was also the one to take the challenge closest to the all conquering KTM in GTC. Manat Kulapalanont, who was also driving in Super 2000 the same weekend, continued the fighting form. He took the runners up spot in both races to help his championship chances. After scoring just 4 points during the opening round the 30 points Manat collected on the return visit to Buriram bump him up to fourth place in the standings at the season’s halfway point and he’s now well positioned to stake his claim to one of the coveted top three spots.
Manat’s teammate Suttipong Smittachartch capably backed up his efforts to make it a 2-3 for Toyota in the first race and his sixth place in the second really helped the Teams’ points haul. In fact that swapped a 26 point deficit in the standings going into the second round into a six point advantage when the team departed – and if Toyota can keep both of their cars reliable and finishing high up on the podium then they should have a strong chance of nabbing the Teams’ championship title.
After their impressive run of success at the opening round, winning the Teams’ trophy in both races and moving into the lead of the Teams’ championship, PTT Yokohama RZ KS The Pizza Company came back down to earth with a bang, despite again running three cars. It proved to be a very tough weekend for the rotary runners as multiple issues hit them but they still learnt a lot and took plenty away from the weekend.
Rotary Revolution ran a trio of machines with U-tain Pongprapas enjoying his second race in the latest example of the team’s RX-7 build programme; however two early race retirements left him with scant rewards for his efforts. In the first race Narin Yensuk dropped out after two laps and Pete Thongchua, the GTC championship leader coming into this race, was gone from proceedings after nine laps. In Race 2 both made it to the line, in eighth and ninth places respectively, to at least chalk a few points on the board.
There were nearly two B-Quik Porsche 996 GT3 Cup entries on the grid. However the team’s second car, which was scheduled to be in the hands of Thomas Raldorf, was withdrawn during practice as a precaution after engine warning lights reared. That left Attapot Sriprom to defend the team’s honours in GTC and in the first race he added a trip to the podium to the one he made at the season opener thanks to finishing fifth. In the second race he came home seventh to make it four points finishes from the four races so far this year and depart from the North East in sixth place in the Drivers’ standings. Good, tidy work from this young driver who has made a huge step up from B-Quik’s Super Eco programme and has a lot to learn, but he’s doing very well.
Also on the podium was Sontaya Kunplome in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. He had a late start to the year, in fact a late start to the weekend too, but was well rewarded with an excellent third place in Sunday’s race to opening his points’ tally for the year in real style.
In fact it was a busy weekend on track for Sontaya as he was also racing in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and he enjoyed two strong finishes in Class B to cap a productive trip to the North East.
Rudolf Yu put in a decent weekend in the Ginetta G55 as he made trips to the podium in both races with a fourth and a fifth place, although it could have been much more. Add that to the two runners up spots he earned at the season opener and he retains his second place in the Drivers’ championship classification; he’s usefully only eight points adrift of Narasak.
Prateep Tumprasert was back behind the wheel of the NSports-built Mitsubishi Evo X for his second event in GTC and after retiring just before half distance during the first race the Super Car rookie finally saw the checkered flag for the first time this year in the now ‘battleship grey’ liveried car with an excellent fourth place in Sunday’s race to get his point scoring in GTC off the mark in some style.
Thailand Super Series 2016 Rd 2 (Buriram): Super 2000
Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya threatened to dominate at the first round but eventually had to settle for one win and a second place after he suffered power steering failure on the grid. That was the same as Chayut Yangpichit who capitalised on Kittipol’s sluggishly steering car. The pair went into the last month’s second round level pegging on points – but after two bruising races Khun Kittipol emerged with a win and a third place and Chayut with zero points after two DNFs and that looks like it’s set the tone for the championship.
In fact Kittipol’s breakthrough win in Super 2000 only came at Bangsaen last November and that means he’s won four of the last six races – a run of form that is rarely seen in a category that promotes close fought racing like no other. He’s also making light of the success ballast that’s weighing down the #25 Honda Civic FD.
In the first race of the weekend Munkong Sathienthirakul was untouchable from pole position as everything went exactly right and he disappeared into the distance to claim the win. Ekprawat Petcharak held second place before having to serve a penalty and that left Kittipol and the factory Toyota 86 of Manat Kulapalanont disputing second place. It looked like Kittipol had the edge but he ran wide during the closing stages of the race and that allowed Manat to nip through and defend the position until the checkered flag.
Come Sunday’s race and Kittipol was starting from third place on the top-five reverse grid. At the green lights Phatwit Phayakcso converted the outside of the front row into the race lead while polesitter Thamrong Mahadumrongkul almost stalled his car and swiftly faded down the top ten as he finally hooked it up. Kittipol took full advantage of that drama, cut off Manat’s attempts to make a move, the Toyota starting from fourth on the grid, while Munkong, the previous day’s winner who was starting fifth on the reverse grid dropped away with a fuelling issue.
From second place into Turn 1 Kittipol very quickly reeled in Phatwit, passing the white Honda City to move into a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish and at the flag he had a handy 5.743 second advantage over Manat to take his fourth win from six races.
That means Kittipol moves up to 67 points, a very commanding 25 points ahead of Manat, the Toyota driver has 42 points, while Chayut remains stuck on 35 points and slips to third. If Kittipol can chop a further 15 points out of Manat next month at Bira Circuit then that should be enough to wrap up the title before the series moves onto Bangsaen. But never-say-never when it comes to Super 2000, it’s a category that usually comes with a sting in the tail.
It was no surprise to find that Kittipol was pretty happy with the weekend – especially as he had to get used to a new transmission in his Honda. “The team changed my gearbox to sequential which had a slightly higher ratio than my usual H-pattern and coupled with the full ballast, made it a little slower than before,” he said. “I took it pretty easy on Saturday as wanted to make sure I got the points [but I] gave it all on Sunday and had a faultless race to win.”
Impressive stuff and someone is going to have to dig pretty deep at Bira and Kittipol suffer some back luck if he’s not going to return to Bangsaen a year on from his debut wins with the title either in the bag or simply a formality.
At the season opener Chayut shared the top two steps of the podium with Kittipol, however the TT Motorsport owner suffered a torrid time on the return visit and his mechanics had to turn in a late nighter on Saturday, as an engine change was required. In the first race he retired at half distance while the replacement unit didn’t help matters much as Chayut dropped out after completing just two laps in Sunday’s race as a fuel injector bracket worked loose, which started to leak fuel, and although the team vainly attempted to fix it in the pitlane it took too long and he had to retire. As a result Chayut picked up a zero points from the weekend and as a result his championship hopes took a big nosedive.
Ekprawat had little luck either and after looking comfortably on the way to second place in the first race he was dished up with a drive through penalty but recovered from that setback very well to fight up the order and eventually finish sixth. In the second race he was in equally feisty form, making a great start to jump up the leaderboard and then in the second race challenging Manat for the runners up position, the pair making contact at Turn 3 at one point and both running wide. However he then had a major problem with the front suspension and in fact had to pit to have it checked before again getting on the pace to finish eighth.
It was an unrewarding weekend in terms of the podium positions but the big positive for Ekprawat was the engine management problems that have plagued his unique Civic FB – the only one racing in Thailand – for the last season and a half finally look to have been resolved and he was right on the front running pace. The driver was upbeat too that a corner has finally been turned. “Actually the engine now is better by changing the new ECU, next race should be okay,” said Ekprawat afterwards.
Looking to get his title aspirations back on track after a problematic first round, Munkong addressed his severe points’ deficit with a maximum score from the first race with a pole to checkered flag victory and that was much needed. Unfortunately in the second race he pulled off at Turn 3 to retire on the sixth lap with a leaking fuel injector rail and that was a big blow to his chances of getting back into the title fight.
Elsewhere, Rudolf Yu (Honda Civic FD) didn’t have a great weekend by his standards, retiring late in the first race with transmission failure but making the podium in the second race with fourth place overall and second in class after swapping places a few times with Thanavud Bhirombhakdi, who was also driving a Civic FD. In fact Thanavud, who is Kittipol’s teammate, also dropped out in the first race but made up for that in the second with an excellent third place, emerging on top of that ding dong scrap with Rudolf.
A third and a fifth in Class B was enough to allow David Yupensak to open up a 15 point advantage in the class over Rudolf while in ‘Class 2’ Toyota driver Thanakorn Buttawong did enough win both races and he now has four straight wins in the ‘second tier’ class and that title is turning out to be a formality.
Thailand Super Series 2016 Rd 2 (Buriram): Super Production
Hideharu Kuroki is asserting a vice like grip on Super Production this year, he took two wins out of two at the second round last month and add that to the two wins he claimed at the season opener back in May, that’s four out of four and this experienced driver, who has previously raced here in Super 2000, has now moved thirty points clear of his closest rival.
That closest rival is in fact Thomas Raldorf who took two second places in Buriram, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Dane, a former Super Car winner, put in two fighting drives where he had to recover ground and he was the only driver to take the fight to the rampant Hideharu – in the second race the two were separated by just 1.909 seconds at the finishline and Thomas, who was also scheduled to race for B-Quik in Super Car GTC before engine issues sidelined his Porsche, was left ruing not having a couple more laps during which to try to haul in the eventual winner.
In the first race there were strong podium showings from Sirisak Manthugumphol and Tony Percy, who finished third and fourth overall as well as first and second in Class B, while in the second race Yotsarun Sansuk, one of the form drivers of last year, picked up third place and Class B victory which allowed him to move 13 points clear at the top of the class standings while fifth place and second in Class B in Race 2 went to Anusorn Asiralertsiri and that coupled with third in Class B in the first race allows Anusorn to move up into the class runners up spot.
Class C in Super Production has a long-standing reputation of discovering the stars of tomorrow and this year is proving to be no different. In fact in the first race it was a brand new debutant into TSS that shone through. Dechathorn Phuakkarawut has graduated from Toyota Motorsport to Super Production with RMI Racing Team this year driving a Honda Jazz GK.
Other commitments kept him away from the season opener in May but on his debut in Round 2 last month he stunned the establishment with victory in Class C, but more than that he swept his way to fifth place overall, an impressive start and he followed that up with the Class C runners up spot in the second race – he’s made his mark in style and has got to be one to look out for now.
The other Class C winner was a driver that certainly is making his mark; Kmik Karnasuta took his second win of the year having graduated to Super Production this year from Super Eco. The 16-year-old hotshot looks all set to follow in the family’s winning tradition, after all his father is a former national racing champion, and Kmik is now just 9 points off the top of the Class C classification – all is to play for with four races and a maximum of 80 points still remaining.
Currently top of the table in Class C is Thanawat Wongnapachant but the cards didn’t fall his way in Round 2, although he dug in and pulled out a second and a fourth that keep him at the summit, but he would probably have hoped for more.