There is now just under a month remaining until Thailand Super Series (TSS) 2016 kicks off in Buriram and the anticipation is really winding up for ‘Season 4,’ which promises to significantly raise the domestic motorsport bar once again.
And as the clock ticks down through the final weeks, teams, drivers and cars are hitting the track in preparation for the new season – and in particular it’s shakedown time for new car-driver combinations, with several of those looking to be exciting cocktails to keep an eye on.
The new Lamborghini Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo is certainly one of the most exciting new ‘Cup’ level cars to enter the sportscar racing world during the last year, it’s a visually striking racecar and now it’s set to grace the grid when Super Car Class 2-GTM gets the green lights for the new season and the first example to arrive in Thailand has just stretched its powerful yet lithe legs for the first time at Bira Circuit in the hands of Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul.
That driver has made quite a name for himself over the last two season at the wheel of a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup and the car in question won’t be standing idle either as his brother, Khun Saravut, will slip straight into the cockpit. He’s already been out for his first run in the car and has impressed the team with just how quickly he got to grips with the Porsche. He looks like being another to look out for this year.
The new Super Compact category (which replaces Super 1500 on the programme) was announced towards the end of last year as part of TSS’s strategy of responding to evolving motorsport trends and in particular to open up regulatory possibilities that allows teams to maximise the technical skill-learning platform which will prepare them to keep climbing up the ladder.
Thailand Super Series is pleased to announce that the ‘Press Conference 2016’ and ‘Champions Night 2015’ will be jointly held at ‘Asiatique The Riverfront’ on Wednesday 4 May when all the exciting plans for the new season will be outlined and during the same occasion our champions of last year will be honoured for their successes. Finally, another Porsche 991 GT3 Cup has arrived in Thailand ahead of the season opener; this latest example will be raced by Khun Paul Kanjanapas.
Enter the Huracán
The new Lamborghini Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo is one of the most exciting new ‘Cup’ level cars to filter into the sportscar racing world during the last year. And now it’s set to be on the grid when Super Car Class 2-GTM kicks off its first round of the 2016 season next month. And recently the first example to arrive in Thailand stretched its powerful yet lithe legs at Bira Circuit.
Forming the backbone of the Italian prestige brand’s ‘one make’ Super Trofeo racing series the Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo plays the same role as the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup does for the German sportscar maker or the Ferrari 458 Challenge for the Prancing Horse.
And just like those cars, which have already arrived in Super Car Class 2-GTM and stamped their mark, now comes the stylish Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo, and it will slot perfectly into Super Car Class 2-GTM.
It will be on the grid when Super Car kicks off for its first round of the year, which will make this particular Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo, which raced in the Super Trofeo Asia Pacific last year, one of the first to appear in a domestic racing series – and that’s another sign of how TSS is growing fast in stature. The latest and most exciting racing sportscars in the world are coming to our grids.
The Huracán will be in the hands of Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul, who has emerged in just two seasons as one of our leading Super Car stars. He switched from a successful drifting career to Super Car for the 2014 season, choosing a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup for his transition and he continued with that combination for 2015. Khun Sarun has quickly made the grade in circuit racing and his white #55 Porsche is now a regular on the podium, no mean feat in the most competitive category in Thai motorsport. His first win clearly isn’t far away.
However it was also clear with the influx of newer cars last year, such as the Lamborghini Gallardo LP520, Ferrari 458 Challenge and Porsche’s new-generation 991 GT3 Cup that Khun Sarun needed a more modern car to match his ambitions.
“I decided to have a new car for the 2016 season because the GTM class is very competitive and every team develops and make their cars faster and faster,” Khun Sarun explains. “The 997 Cup car is quite old and not competitive enough and with [this car] our team never can think about winning the race or pole position, even getting on the podium is still difficult. So it’s time to take a chance with a new car.”
There are a lot of cutting edge racecars that tick most of the boxes for Super Car Class 2-GTM so it wasn’t a straightforward choice, but for Khun Sarun and his team, which includes his racing ‘tutor’, the highly experienced Japanese professional driver Khun Keita Sawa, one car stood out. “The Huracán Super Trofeo is a fast car compared to the one make race cars,” he reckons. “This version is the 610-2, it’s two wheel drive so has good handling [and] low maintenance and our team can do the maintenance by ourselves.”
While Khun Sarun has made a lot of progress in the last two years and proved himself as one of the leading Super Car drivers, he admits he still has some way to go and is quite cautious on what he can achieve with his new weapon. “I need to get more podiums than [in] 2015,” he says.
It certainly is a capable racetrack ‘weapon’. The new Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo has been built by the Lamborghini factory and thus benefits from all the skills and expertise of the production supercar maker and by extension its parent company, VW Group. The sleek and dynamic chassis is made from a hybrid mix of carbon and aluminum with modifications of the double wishbone suspension geometry that also allow a larger and more efficient radiator to be fitted at the front while accommodating a racing specific gearbox at the rear.
The aerodynamics been improved over the road going version too with a new racing splitter and dive plates being incorporated at the front, new side skirts to manage airflow along the flanks as well as a big racing wing, protruding rear diffuser and specific engine cover. With a lowered ride height it adds up to a visually stunning machine that oozes menace while 18-inch wheels all round further add to the look. The dry weight of the Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo comes in at 1,270 kg before Balance of Performance (BoP) is taken into consideration while weight distribution is a handy 42-58 split.
Under the skin the production 5.2 litre V10 engine is retained but fitted with a racing intake and managed by a MoTeC unit with Traction Control options.
As with previous generation Gallardo-based ‘Super Trofeo’ versions the production standard 4WD system is ditched in favour of rear wheel drive with power fed to the wheels via a racing clutch, lightweight flywheel and 6-speed sequential gearbox. There is ABS but no ESP.
The new Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo first joined the brand’s three global one-make series last year. Some of those first year cars have now filtered out of the series’ towards domestic championships, including the one acquired by Khun Sarun.
The car looks like being a highly competitive package and with the application of TSS’s Balance of Performance (BoP) that should see it neatly slot into Super Car. The question will be for Khun Sarun’s support team to help him unlock that potential and attune the driver to his new mount and that journey started with a shakedown test at Bira Circuit behind the wheel of the Huracán.
On a very hot and dry afternoon the Pattaya racetrack reverberated to the sound of a Huracán Super Trofeo for the first time. The running was all about thoroughly checking over the car, starting to understand its characteristics and to begin learning about setting it up. “The purpose is to test the car as we have just got the car,” explained Khun Sarun. “We prepare the car and it’s my first drive in Thailand so I want to test the car before I go to Buriram [for a two day test].”
Khun Sarun was pleased with the shakedown and reckons the car is a good step forward over his outgoing 997. “The [Lamborghini]’s very nice to drive, very balanced if compared to the Porsche, the Porsche needs a lot of weight transfer,” he explains. “The engine has more torque so it’s fast, but sometimes it’s more sensitive, you have to adjust and accelerate very smoothly, and the car has Traction Control so even in Bira where there are some low speed corners and bumps so on acceleration it’s more convenient to drive.”
Helping to make for a smooth transition will be the fact that Khun Sarun has the same ‘backroom’ team in place that has helped him progress so far over the last two years, led by Team Manager Khun Somboon Kittitanagorn. “For this year we still run with same team and the same coach, Keita Sawa,” he adds.
Double champ eyes up title hat trick
Over the last two seasons RMI Racing Team’s star driver Khun Pasarit Phromsombat has grown in stature to become one of the best known names in the TSS paddock after clinching two of the most highly competitive titles in the programme, Super Production (2014) and Super 2000 (2015).
He didn’t win either of those titles the easy way. Two seasons ago he clinched the Super Production title by a solitary point and the fight went to the very last green flag lap of the very last race of the season in Bangsaen. After a DNF in the first race he went into the final race of the year with a 1-point deficit in the championship classification and would start from the back of the grid. However a sensational drive in the second race saw the pendulum swing again and he ended up overhauling his rival right at the end of the race to finish with a 1-point advantage the other way and nail the title down.
If that was a truly outstanding performance, last year he was to defy the odds again as Khun Pasarit moved up to Super 2000 and arrived in Bangsaen for the end of year double header with a 10-point deficit to the BMW of Khun Jack Lemvard, the RMI driver the clear outsider although he had consistently scored points in every race. While Khun Jack suffered two straight DNFs, Khun Pasarit steered clear of the carnage that always unfolds when Super 2000 fuses with the Bangsaen Street Circuit and he claimed his second consecutive title.
Khun Pasarit’s season was all about consistent excellence in the unfancied and ageing Honda DC 5, three runners up spots and three third places all delivered double-figure helpings of points, cemented by a fourth and a seventh place to make it eight points scoring finishes from the season’s eight races.
Two prestigious crowns that were both snatched in the final race of the season, very impressive, so what’s been the secret to his success? “This past two years my team and I had to fight until the very last second,” says Khun Pasarit. “My way of doing it is not to give up even though you’re losing, just keep trying to do your best and I also have my team and sponsors to thank for their support.”
The new Super Compact category (which replaces Super 1500 on the programme) was announced towards the end of last year as part of TSS’s strategy of responding to evolving motorsport trends and in particular to open up regulatory possibilities that allows teams to maximise the technical skill-learning platform which will prepare them to keep climbing up the ladder.
This thinking is exactly what attracted Khun Pasarit and the RMI Team to take a good look at the new category. “It started with Thailand Super Series initiating Super Compact which provides racers with more choices,” he explains. “For myself, I’m very interested in the rules and regulations that has been changed and that’s why I decided to participate in Super Compact.”
Picking Honda’s pretty little CR-Z for his Super Compact entry was something of a surprise, the sub-compact sports coupé only comes here CBU so it’s a very rare sight on the Thai roads and quite unknown in the paddock. It’s certainly going to be another first for TSS – in an era of firsts. So why did Khun Pasarit choose the CR-Z? “Probably because it looks cool and no other team has used it yet,” he says. The finished racecar certainly looks cool. As one would expect from Khun Pasarit, preparation standards are sky-high and close attention has been paid to ensure every last tiny detail is perfect.
A highly ambitious driver who is an equally ambitious engineer, the challenge of a building completely new type of car to a brand new set of regulations, which allow a distinct level of engineering freedom, certainty appealed. “Nowadays motor technology has advanced so much and for Super Compact the new rules support the new car model,” he says. “Learning new things is a very good experience and I always enjoy trying something new, that’s why my team and I decided to build a new car.”
Khun Pasarit had his work cut out with the CR-Z though as he didn’t have any other racing version to guide him although once the production car’s hybrid system is ditched it’s effectively a Honda Jazz engine under the bonnet. “It was a bit hard in the beginning [to find race parts],” he says. “But some of the parts I could use from the Jazz model.”
Last week the new CR-Z took to the track for the first time in Buriram. The shakedown went well as the team started to dynamically understand its new car for the first time. “We experienced both advantages and things that need to be improved but overall it worked out just fine,” reports Khun Pasarit.
Clearly this is a driver that knows exactly how to win competitive titles – the question now is that with a brand new racecar and a brand new category, can he hit the ground running and make it three championship titles in three consecutive years? That would be an impressive result and as Super Compact is going to be a fresh experience for everyone, that’s going to help level the playing field.
So what are his expectations? “It’s still the same like always, we’ll be doing our best and enjoy every bit of it,” Khun Pasarit says. Clearly he has to be one of the early pre-season favourites for the title and few would bet against him.
Certainly all eyes will be looking out for the pace of the distinctive CR-Z when the serious track action gets underway next month in Buriram. If the distinctive metallic blue and black car goes as well as it’s been built then it’s going to be headed straight for the higher steps of the podium.
Press Conference 2016 & Champions Night 2015
Thailand Super Series is pleased to announce that the ‘Press Conference 2016’ and ‘Champions Night 2015’ will be jointly held at ‘Asiatique The Riverfront’ on Wednesday 4 May when all the exciting plans for the new season will be outlined and during the same occasion our champions of last year will be honoured for their successes.
This year will represent ‘Season Four’ for TSS, which was born in 2013, and after three years of continuous growth there will be no slowdown this season.
In fact one of the highlights of the Press Conference is certain to be a display of TCR cars with the format being officially presented to the media for the first time.
The venue is a high profile location for the Champions Night and upends tradition – and that’s exactly the thinking behind selecting it, explains TSS Vice President Preeda Tantemsapya. “Usually we’ve chosen closed functions, such as hotels, for the Champions Night events,” he explains. “Being there will expose us more as there are a lot of visitors, also there are many foreign visitors and tourists in the area, we hope it opens up another avenue for us to explore by connecting with both Thai and foreign people together. We don’t want to do the same thing every time, but to push out new ideas.”
Khun Preeda reckons that reaching out to gain wider exposure is a core strategy for TSS. “We want to attract more foreign competitors, especially with the new racetrack in Sri Racha and this year we will change the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival to become the Bangsaen Grand Prix,” he says. “Presenting TSS in locations like this is going to help us as we look for a bigger reach.”
The Press Conference will present the programme for 2016 and amongst the key changes is the arrival of the new Super Compact category and, arguably the most exciting new racing format for several years, TCR Thailand.
“TCR is something we really want to put in the spotlight at the Press Conference,” Khun Preeda notes. “Demand is really growing now, demand is growing across the world too for TCR, but here since the first cars arrived it’s really jumped and that’s coupled with fairness of the regulations and that homologation is all done by TCR.
“Getting the cars though is the tricky part though as many brands are sold out due to the demand and so some orders put in now would only see the cars delivered at the end of the year,” he adds. “However we have a good base to start with TCR Thailand and by the end of the year we expect numbers to make their way up to about sixteen cars.”
Family doubles up in Super Car
While last week’s shakedown test of the striking new Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo to be driven by Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul this year grabbed most attention, there was another ‘body in white’ racecar lurking in the garage, that was the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup that he’s driven for the last two season but is now vacating.
The car isn’t destined to remain idle for long as it’s being taken over by his brother, Khun Saravut who will be entering his Super Car rookie year. However in the space of a week he’s had two tests, at Bira and Buriram, and that means he’s acclimatised himself on tracks that will comprise three-quarters of the calendar.
After a one-day shakedown at Bira Circuit it was across to Buriram for a two-day session and as he gets to grips with his new car Japanese pro Khun Keita Sawa, who has been tutoring his brother for the past couple of seasons, is also guiding him.
The tests went well for Khun Saravut with plenty of running time and he’s satisfied that he’s headed in the right direction. “The test at Buriram went alright and I’m ready for the races in May,” he says. “My best time was 1 [minute and] 44 seconds and [I was] very consistent to get 1.44 [on] almost every lap. My Japanese coach Sawa was happy with result and said I have improve a lot at Buriram, the next target is 1.41 he said.”
With relatively little racing experience behind him Khun Saravut doesn’t have the easiest of rides in the shape of the mount that has been bequeathed to him by his brother, Porsche’s breed of rear engine cars are fabled for being tough to tame, many fancied drivers have failed to extract the ‘max’ from the 911 lineage. However the news emanating from the tests is that Khun Saravut’s made a strong start in mastering the iconic German sportscar.
“I got told [by] my brother, Sarun, that the Porsche with [its] rear engine is the hardest car to drive and even some professional drivers still have problems if they never driven the Porsche before,” he says. “I found it quite hard at first turning the car, which was understeering, but Sawa is an expert at driving Porsches [and] he told me don’t worry about the engine being at the back so much [but] just drive it and feel the feeling of the car and try to control it. Now I’m fine and found that the car has very good braking and can brake very deep, turn and then jump out of corner with very high traction.
“I usually get to use mid-engine and front engine-cars, but now I’m okay” he adds. “If you can drive a Porsche then you can drive all types of car my coach Sawa said.”
With a solid and proven racecar and an equally solid and proven team behind him coupled to a pair of promising tests, Khun Saravut, who will race in the ‘AM’ class is looking forward to his Super Car rookie year with relish. “I’m so excited and can’t wait for the races,” he says. “I’m looking for trophies.”
Changing of the guard
Porsche has been the dominant brand in Super Car during the ‘New Era’ of TSS with the ‘997 GT3 Cup’-generation model a ubiquitous sight on the grids.
The tide is changing though as the new-generation 991 GT3 Cup arrives in growing numbers and is quickly overshadowing its predecessor which has a fine record in Super Car, including winning the last five Class 2-GTM races in Bangsaen.
Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem introduced the first example at the start of last season, the striking gold-and-black wrapped machine was a standout sight on the grid and showed plenty of pace as this established Super 2000 driver steadily got to grips with the 991 on his rookie year in Super Car.
During the 2015 season closer in Bangsaen last November ‘991’ representation in TSS tripled as Khun Suttiluck Buncharoen and Khun Aekarat Discharoen upgraded from their 997s to 991s and now there are two more for this season, Khun Naiyanobh Bhirombhakdi already has his new car here and has been out testing in Buriram in recent weeks while the latest 991 out of a shipping container has been acquired by Khun Paul Kanjanapas.
The 991 GT3 Cup that Khun Paul plans to race arrived in Bangkok yesterday morning and in fact ensuring that 997 numbers continue to remain rosy is the news that his Painkiller Racing team mate Khun Naputt Assakul will take over driving the 997 that Khun Paul has raced in Super Car Class 2-GTM for the past couple of seasons.