Buriram - The race weekend is all set to unfold and certainly the pace on track has been really hotting up over the last few days, the gaps have been wafer thin and everything is to play for in the North East as the Thailand Super Series (TSS) programme goes up the gears.
The schedule has been rejigged as Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) has joined us this weekend and their cars were out on track yesterday for the series’ first free practice sessions here. They will have races today and tomorrow with three Thai drivers on the entry list each looking to stamp their mark on their home turf.
That means most classes, apart from Super Car and PCCA, have held their qualifying sessions already, these two categories will settle their grids this morning, while Super Pickup and Super Eco have already held races.
Super Car GTM as usual leads out the TSS programme and in yesterday’s official Free Practice session the top six were covered by less than one second as the front runners finally started to show their hands following Thursday’s long day of unofficial running.
First blood went to the #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup driven by Khun Henk J. Kiks, the Dutchman just edging out Ferrari 458 Challenge of reigning champion Khun Kantasak Kusiri by just a tenth of a second – it was that close. The factory Toyotas of Khun Nattapong Horthongkum and Khun Nattavude Charoensukhawatana were right in the mix as of course was the Lamborghini Huracán of Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul that dominated the opening weekend of the year. Meanwhile in Super Car GTM the KTM X-Bow GT4 of Khun Narasak Ittritpong and the Toyota 86 of Khun Manat Kulapalanont resumed battle while the former also claimed his first TCR Thailand pole position.
And the other big story of the week, heavy rain and humidity. Lashing rain has rolled in so far mostly at the end of the day and through night leaving a track that has taken much of the next day to fully come towards the drivers. Rain during the races this weekend has to be a strong possibility and that’s yet another variable in the mix. Roll on the weekend.
Free Practice: Super Car GTM
The top six were covered by less than one second by the end of yesterday’s official practice session as the front runners finally started to show their hands following Thursday’s long day of free running. First blood went to the #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup driven by Khun Henk J. Kiks, the Dutchman posted a sizzling 1:38.041 best lap to edge the Ferrari 458 Challenge of reigning champion Khun Kantasak Kusiri out of P1 by just a tenth of a second – it was that close.
Khun Kantasak was only just over a couple of tenths faster than the quickest of the two factory Toyotas, the #38 of Khun Nattapong Horthongkum who had topped the timesheets and with his team mate Khun Nattavude Charoensukhawatana just nine tenths away from pole that meant both the red and white 86 sportscars were in the top six; the Japanese brand looks to be right back in the competitive game.
Between the two Toyotas came the second B-Quik Racing Audi, the #27 of Khun Daniel Bilski, and the triple winner of the opening round, Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul in the imperious Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo LP620.
That means two Audis, two Toyotas, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari in the top six, all split by less than a second. It bodes well for exciting racing today and tomorrow. In fact this morning will see qualifying for Super Car GTM, scheduled for 0955-1025, before the first 15-lap race of the weekend takes place this afternoon at 1425.
Seventh and eighth fastest times were posted by Khun Aekarat Discharoen in the #11 A Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 Cup and the second Singha Motorsport Team Thailand Ferrari of Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi, they were seven tenths away from Khun Nattavude, but separated from each other by just hundreds of a second and clearly they have work to do to haul themselves onto the front running pace.
Then came the four Amateur class (AM) drivers led out by the returning Khun Thamrong Mahadumrongkul in his Ferrari 458 Challenge, his best time was a 1:42.305. He previously appeared at Bangsaen last November and he’s still getting to grips with the car, but clearly Khun Thamrong is finding the pace as he led out the AM drivers. Second quickest was Khun Paul Kanjanapas, who was struggling with shock absorber problems, he eventually had to switch back to an old setup as replacement parts aren’t available locally and that’s going to compromise his weekend.
Then came the Porsche 997 GT3 Cups of Khun Naputt Assakul and Khun Saravut Sereethoranakul and the debuting Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo of Khun Supachai Weeraborwornpong (see separate story).
The penultimate GTM laptime was posted by Khun Craig Corliss who had a very short session in the Holden Commodore VE after a tyre problem saw him clip the barrier with the left hand rear wheel arch although he was lucky the resulting damage was mostly superficial. The New Zealander sat out the earlier practice sessions while a software issue was resolved so he will have to go straight into qualifying with virtually no track time behind him this week. The final time was set by rookie Khun Tosaphol Phamyai, who is debuting in NSports’ Nissan GTR this weekend and he was busy acclimatising himself with the car; certainly the next couple of days are going to represent a very steep learning curve for this driver.
Super Car GTM: Return of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo
Khun Supachai Weeraborwornpong has been a regular race in Super 2000 for a number of years and you couldn’t miss him really thanks to the bright orange Honda DC 5 he campaigned. He was always in the hunt for podium positions and showed plenty of pace – he was never one to shirk the heat of battle. In fact his career started sixteen years ago in the Thailand Grand Touring Car Championship and Thailand Touring Car Championship in 1600 category before he graduated to Super 2000, so he’s got plenty of experience to call upon.
But at the end of 2014 he vanished from the Super 2000 ranks and that’s because he decided to go up a big gear and enter the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, dubbed the fastest one make series in the world and last year there were a lot of date clashes with TSS. In the pan-Asia series he got his hands on the Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo LP560 which had been campaigned by leading Austria team Grasser Racing during the 2014 season.
Khun Supachai drove the Gallardo all last season and culminated in representing Asia in the Super Trofeo ‘World Finals’ held at the legendary Sebring Raceway in Florida. So he knows the car very well.
He’s kicked off a second season in Super Trofeo Asia, which so far has seen him in action at Shanghai and Suzuka, but for this season he’s upgraded to the dramatic Huracán Super Trofeo LP620-2. That’s exactly the same type of racecar that electrified Super Car GTM during this year’s season opener in Buriram back in May, taking three wins from three races in the hands of Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul. So all in all he’s been around a bit since we saw him last.
There wasn’t any mistaking the driver when he gunned the Gallardo onto the track on Thursday for the first time as the racing sportscar was wrapped in his signature bright orange. By the end of the day he was lapping in the 1:43s on a track that saw constantly evolving conditions.
Khun Supachai noted that with the visit of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia in a fortnight’s time this was a great opportunity for him. “[I’m here] to refresh my memory of the track and to familiarise with the track at a faster speed,” he said. While this race is a one-off return to TSS, he is currently evaluating rejoining the series next year.
Free Practice: Super Car GTC
After facing off with each other during the season opener it very much looks like battle is going to be resumed at the front of the grid in Super Car GTC between the Vattana Motorsport KTM X-Bow GT4 driven by Khun Narasak Ittritpong and the factory Toyota 86 of Khun Manat Kulapalanont as this pair headed the timesheets in yesterday’s Free Practice session and they were separated by less than a tenth of a second, the former edging it with a best time of 1:45.887.
Third quickest was the Ginetta which was given some laps by Khun Will Bamber as its regular driver Khun Rudolf Yu had commitments that means he won’t arrive in the paddock until this morning. Fourth quickest time went to Khun Pete Thongchua who leads the GTC points standings going into this round after claiming a win during the first round and the actor-driver was followed on the leaderboard by the second factory entered Toyota, the #19 of Khun Suttipong Smittachartch.
Only one of the B-Quik Porsche 996 GT3 Cup machines made it into the official practice session yesterday; that was the #99 driven by Khun Attapot Sriprom and he was next up on the timesheets. Meanwhile the final car to post a time during the session was the Mitsubishi Evo X of Khun Prateep Tumprasert.
There were quite a few notable absentees from the classification, including Khun Thomas Raldorf (see separate story) while both the Mazda RX-7s of Khun Narin Yensuk and Khun U-tain Pongprapas only grabbed a few minutes of track time towards the end of the session. Also missing from the timesheets was the Porsche of Khun Sontaya Kunplome, he was primarily occupied with Porsche Carrera Cup Asia where he will also be racing this weekend.
Super Car GTC: Thomas Raldorf rejoins B-Quik
B-Quik Racing is up to full strength with both its Porsche 996 GT3 Cup machines running in Super Car GTC this weekend after they entered just one example at the season opener in May due to a lack of available spare parts.
The second car is in the hands of Khun Thomas Raldorf this weekend and he reunites with the team having driven its Porsche 997 GT3 Cup in Super Car GTM here a couple of years ago. Then he finished on the podium and so expect the highly experienced Danish driver, an outright winner in the Super Car top class at Bira Circuit a few years ago, to be at the very least right in the hunt for the podium positions.
Khun Thomas will lack running time though as during Thursday’s first day of track action his opening session was abruptly curtailed early on after a warning light came on and the team decided to change the engine in the #25 Porsche as a precaution, leaving him sitting idle on the sidelines for the day which had a knock on in keeping him out of the official practice session yesterday. But he knows this track inside out and has plenty of experience racing Porsches so this should all be of not too much concern and he should be on the class pace.
“I’m looking forward to again joining the Super Car class,” said Khun Thomas. “Last time I raced in it was also for B-Quik in Buriram in 2014 in their 997 in GTM where I finished on the podium. This time it will be in the 996 in GTC and this is a new car for me but it should be both reliable and competitive.”
Free Practice: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) is back with us for a second consecutive year in Buriram, last year in fact represented a return to Thailand after a decade away. There are 24 examples of the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup that make up the field in this ‘one make’ series in the paddock this weekend and yesterday they hit the track for their first two Free Practice sessions ahead of Race 1 this afternoon (1650) and Race 2 tomorrow (1325).
In the first session, which started at 1110, the quickest time went to Khun Scott Hargrove (1:38.595) sixth tenths ahead of the championship leader Khun Maxime Jousse. Porsche factory driver Khun Martin Ragginger was third quickest but Thai and TSS interest surrounded a clutch of our stars in Class B. Three TSS drivers are racing in PCCA this weekend and in Class B, Khun Suttiluck Buncharoen was third, Khun Shaun Varney, in his first ever time in a Porsche 991 GT3 Cup, was seventh while Khun Sontaya Kunplome was eleventh. Home representation doesn’t end their either as Thai star Khun Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak, a former Super Car champion, was second in Class B as he targets winning the title.
The second practice session saw an almost dead heat at the top as Khun Andrew Gilbert edged out championship top runner and Porsche China Junior Khun Andrew Tang by 0.009 seconds while Khun Maxime was just a hundredth further behind with the top eight covered by less than a second. In Class B Khun Vutthikorn nabbed the top spot, Khun Varney was sixth quickest, Khun Suttiluck seventh and Khun Sontaya thirteenth.
Friday was all about the Porsche drivers getting used to the track and for many it was their first time here. Today it will get a whole lot more serious when they roll out for the 30-minute official qualifying session at 1035.
Qualifying: TCR Thailand
In his first weekend in TCR Thailand Khun Narasak Ittritpong got off to a flying start by planting Vattana Motorsport’s new Honda Civic on pole position late yesterday afternoon with a best lap in 1:45.750 that no one else was able to match.
Khun Narasak missed the opening round here in May as the Civic arrived just after the event but he got useful acclimatisation time with the new car in when Vattana contested the TCR Asia Series round here last month and that was a success with a trip to the podium in the first race before technical niggles dropped him out early on in the second race.
There were no troubles for Khun Narasak yesterday as he planted the grey car on pole eclipsing the expected battle between Khun Carlo Van Dam and Khun Jack Lemvard which dominated the season opener back in May.
Khun Jack in fact posted the second best time in qualifying, half a second off Khun Narasak to make it an all-Vattana front row while third quickest time went to newcomer Khun Alexander Mies, the German driver who is standing in at the wheel of Krating Daeng’s third SEAT for this race (see separate story). Fourth quickest was Khun Carlo.
Fifth best time went to Khun Nattachak Hanjitkasem in the TBN MK IHere Honda Civic and he was the fastest of the amateur drivers. Khun Nattachak is coming off a superb weekend in TCR Asia Series where he mixed it up with some of the best amateur drivers that Asia has to offer and came out with a win and a second place in the hard fought class. This driver is really raising his game now and expect him to be charging hard during the races.
Sixth quickest was Khun Chen Jian Hong in the second Krating Daeng SEAT, the Taiwanese driver edged out Sloth Racing’s Khun Paritat Bulbon and the third Krating Daeng car of Khun Grant Supaphong, the trio covered by just a few hundredths of a second.
TCR Thailand: Krating Daeng draft in Alexander Sims
There is a new face in the TCR Thailand paddock this week and that’s because Krating Daeng Racing Team is now up to its full strength of three cars. The team originally shipped in three SEAT Léon Cup machines back in April but the third one sat idle during the season opener. Not any longer and the team has chucked a wildcard into the pack by putting German driver Khun Alexander Mies in the cockpit for this weekend.
Khun Alexander arrives straight off the back of a superb result in this year’s Nürburgring 24 Hour race as he was part of the crew that took victory in the ‘Cup 5’ class driving a BMW M235i, also finishing a hugely impressive twenty fifth overall.
There is an enduring connection between Khun Alexander and Khun ‘Kiki’ Sak Nana, Team Manager of the Krating Daeng Racing Team and one of our leading driving stars. “Alexander raced with me for three years, 2013, 2015 and 2016,” explains Khun Kiki. “I promised him many times about bringing him to race in Thailand.”
The availability of the third Krating Daeng SEAT meant the pieces fell into place and the German driver was strapped in the car on Wednesday for the first time. That the track was awash with water should have been little issue for a driver that had recently competed in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. “He’s really excited and really keen to do it and so this is the first time we have put him in the car and we will see what happens,” added Khun Kiki, who is also in the middle of an intensive programme with VLN races in Germany both last weekend and next weekend.
Qualifying: Super 2000
After a disappointing opening weekend to the season Khun Munkong Sathienthirakul hooked it all together in qualifying yesterday afternoon to plant his striking blue Honda Civic FD on pole position with a best lap in 1:52.793. That was eight tenths faster than his closest rival could manage and that in fact turned out to be Khun Manat Kulapalanont who will thus start the factory run #37 Toyota 86 from front row of the grid.
Khun Ekprawat Petcharak was next up, a further two tenths off the Toyota and he will lead out Row 2 after his best qualifying performance to date since his return to Super 2000 last year. He’s confident that technical niggles that have stopped him from showing his true pace are now resolved so expect him to be pushing this afternoon when the first race gets underway.
Completing Row 2 today will be Khun Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya, the joint championship leader. He was struggling under the extra weight of the ‘success’ ballast he picked up thanks to a first and second place at the season opener and will be looking to drive a more tactical race. The other equal leader on points coming into this race, Khun Chayut Yangpichit, was suffering even more and set only the seventh quickest time.
Sandwiched in between these two hard chargers are Khun Kittipol’s teammate, Khun Thanavud Bhirombhakdi, and Khun Phatwit Phayakcso, so there should be a lot of jostling in the middle of the top ten. Behind Khun Chayut comes Khun Thamrong Mahadumrongkul who missed the opening round with the two factory Toyota Altis entries of Khun Pure Hongsapan and Khun Thanakorn Buttawong wrapping up the top ten.
Qualifying & Race 1: Super Pickup
The pickups went out early yesterday for the first qualifying session of the weekend, taking to the track at 0910 for a half hour session that would see conditions changing by the lap as the damp track continued to dry on a humid morning.
However that was irrelevant to Khun Yuth Jhannet who carried his fast pace at the season opener straight over and his best lap set early, a 2:01.887 lap, was unmatched and although his rivals whittled the gap down he finished the session with nine tenths of a second over his closest rival.
That would turn out to be Krating Daeng’s Khun Philip Massoud who turned in a late lap in 2:02.763 to bag the outside berth on Row 1 as well as Class B pole, a superb effort from the Australian who is starting his second year in truck racing.
A new name, Khun Sanya Phonyiam, led out Row 2 while an experienced name, Khun Waris Onyarab, will be alongside. Fifth fastest was Khun Chaleampon Phonlookin who also was the quickest of the Class C runners while the best of the new Toyota Revo runners was that of the reigning champion Khun Jaras Jaengkamolkulchai who will start down on the fifth row.
That set up the first race of the weekend for the trucks and Khun Yuth made no mistakes as he converted pole into the race lead and kept himself out front for the full 12 laps. Khun Philip slotted into second place and these two broke away but the Australian would eventually relinquish the runners up spot as he was flagged for smoke and would fall back to finish a disappointing ninth.
Khun Waris put in a late spurt to come through and finish second, exactly 2 seconds off the winner while Khun Sanya finished third and took Class B honours. Another rookie face popped up in fourth, Khun Samrit U-songham, but more importantly he bagged Class C honours while Khun Tanawat Suwannarat wrapped up the top five overall.
Qualifying: Super Compact
Battle resumed during qualifying between Khun Kajornsak Na Songkhla and Khun Pasarit Phromsombat. The pair took a win each at the season opener and it looks like they are going to be going for each other again over the next couple of days. First blood though went to Khun Kajornsak as the Ford Fiesta driver edged out the Honda CR-Z driver by just over a second.
Third quickest time went to Khun Silapa Teeraniti who led out Class C while Khun Kittitat Vongprai who also nabbed Class B pole will complete the second row of the grid. Khun Siraphop Natirojanachaicharn and Khun Settasit Boonyakiat will complete Row 3.
This event represents Super Compact’s second ever weekend and the grid continues to grow as 14 cars took part in qualifying yesterday. Look out for the two factory supported Mazdas in the races though as they didn’t have a great qualifying session, Khun Michael Freeman was only seventh overall and Khun Tachapan Vijittranon is in eleventh.
The Mazda drivers will clearly be looking to make movement up the order come the first race this morning. Also keep an eye on 16-year-old Norwegian youngster Khun Daniel Størkersen who qualified third in Class C on his debut weekend in TSS.
Qualifying: Super Production
It’s always close in Super Production and yesterday’s qualifying session was the usual story as the top six were covered by just one second. Proven experience paid off at the top as Khun Hideharu Kuroki set the fastest time out of the 22 cars that took to the track for the qualifying session at 1250.
Khun Hideharu posted a best lap of 2:02.989, which wasn’t beaten – although it was a very close run thing as Khun Sirisak Manthugumphol was just 0.076 seconds adrift but still claimed Class B pole for his efforts.
Third fastest was Khun Nattanid Leewattanavaragul, the rapid lady who is the reigning Class C champion relentlessly making her way to the front. She was less than three tenths off pole and edged out Khun Anusorn Asiralertsiri by less than a hundredth of a second.
The top five was wrapped up by Khun Thanasit Bhunyatharanonth. Khun Yotsarun Sansuk was next up and he was just under a second from pole while in seventh place 16-year-old Khun Kmik Karnasuta superbly bounced back in his repaired car after a crash during Thursday practice.
Race 1 & 2: Super Eco
Super Eco, along with the pickup trucks, kicked off its race weekend yesterday, in fact for the little eco cars it was a case of both their races done and dusted and there was plenty of action to report on. Khun Suphong Khamtonwong didn’t hang around at the green lights for the first race and once he had assumed P1 he was never troubled all the way to the flag in the 6 lap race, taking a 1.7 second advantage at the finish over the reigning champion Khun Konpichit Toyingcharoen. Both these two were driving Suzuki Swifts.
The real excitement though was a six-car battle for third place that raged for lap after lap as the eco runners jostled and swapped places. In the end it was Khun Sittron Phromsombat who emerged on top, breaking away over the closing laps to open up a two second cushion over Khun Naruchit Kiatmaneesri who finished next up after fending off Khun Jakraphan Davee by just four tenths of a second.
The second and final race for the Super Eco runners saw Khun Suphong making it two wins out of two as he took the victory, albeit by just 1 second. This time Khun Sittron went one better to finish runner up while third place was claimed by Khun Naruchit with Khun Jakraphan fourth.