He’s one of the best sportscar drivers in the world, very few here for the 8th Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival would dispute that fact, and you expect a little bit of magic every time he clambers into the cockpit. But when Khun Tomáš Enge burbled out of the paddock in the Camaro GT3 for his qualifying runs, no one was even quite sure if the big muscular machine would actually work around a street circuit – there’s no form to look back at, it’s never raced on a temporary course before and it certainly didn’t look especially comfortable on the track during practice.
What Khun Tomáš proceeded to serve up was simply a master class in the art of racecar driving and his best laptime, delivered in 1:37.887, was sensational. He was the only driver to dip below 1:40 on a track that was supposed to be slower than last year. No one had an answer to the Reiter-built Camaro and the Thailand Super Series (TSS) paddock was left shell-shocked.
And Reiter Vattana Motorsport really rose to the occasion, Khun Chonsawat Asavahame dug deep to claim P3 and he is now perfectly placed to wrap up the Drivers’ title this afternoon. Meanwhile Khun Piti Bhirombhakdi is a born street fighter and he delivered an excellent P2 while behind this leading trio comes the new Toyota and then three more Lamborghinis. It’s all shaping up for two sensational races in Class 1-GTM this weekend.
Then quickly onto Super Car Class 2-GTM and here it was equally intense. Another visiting superstar, this time Khun Darryl O’Young, claimed pole for B-Quik Racing and then promptly had a big moment into the tyre wall as his rear brakes vanished. Meanwhile the championship leader Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi, under pressure like never before as his advantage is down to just one point, superbly rose to the occasion and delivered an inch-perfect lap; he was just tenths away from the ‘pro’ driver and will join him on the front row of the grid. Truly amazing stuff.
That was really the story of Thursday afternoon’s qualifying sessions. Everyone was on the edge of their seats from the moment the little Super Eco cars rolled out for their session against the clock, right the way through the afternoon until the big beasts of Class 1-GT3 wrapped up the action and their brutal engines finally fallen silent.
The eighth edition of Bangsaen promised to be bigger, better and brighter both on and off the track and it’s already delivered during qualifying. The intense programme of races over next 48 hours are set to create a milestone in the history of Thai motorsport.
Qualifying: Super Car Class 1-GT3
The pre-event resurfacing work has meant the 3.7-km track has required rubbering up and that’s led to lap times falling with every session, leaving the picture less than clear. But one thing has been clear, the driving skills of Khun Tomáš. After focusing on setting up team leader Khun Chonsawat’s Gallardo on Tuesday he jumped in the Camaro on Wednesday morning – and no one could touch him.
He warmed up with a 1:42.712 in the morning session and then banged in a 1:38.980 in the afternoon session, a time nearly three and a half seconds clear of the chasers. Khun Tomáš was clearly working hard in the cockpit as he wrestled the big machine around the tightest turns and the car didn’t look too settled over the bumps.
But world class is world class and the Czech is unquestionably amongst the best in the world. He thrives off a challenge and showcasing Reiter Engineering’s handicraft by planting the Camaro on pole was his big challenge for the week. And it would turn out that practice was just an appetiser – Khun Tomáš chipped another full second out of his time the day before to post a 1:37.887 best lap which put him three and a half seconds clear in front.
The paddock was simply left stunned; no one had any answer to the big black car. His rivals weren’t the only ones to be stunned either, the driver as well as the Reiter Vattana engineers’ all admitted to have not expected that time. “I’m surprised myself,” said Khun Tomáš afterwards. “We are all surprised by the performance of the Camaro, massively surprised.”
Interestingly, the Czech reckoned that the recently resurfaced sections had given them some extra pace. “There are a few places where there is new tarmac and the tarmac is pretty grippy,” he said. “It’s more grippy than the current tarmac which is on most parts of the circuit, but on those few new places you can just use that extra grip to go much faster than last year. That’s why I think the pole position lap time is faster than last year even though the chicane is about a second slower than it was before.”
Street racing is also brand new territory for the Camaro and Khun Tomáš admitted it had all been a big leap into the unknown. “I was really worried before coming here that I’m going to have a problem with this car around a street circuit,” he said. “This is the first ever race by the Reiter Camaro on a street circuit and we didn’t know what to expect.
“We tried to think about everything,” Khun Tomáš continued. “We tried to prepare ourselves as best as possible in terms of setup and in terms of tyre compound selection but we found out that even in this street course we can’t run soft tyres, we have to run hard tyres otherwise the tyre isn’t behaving as well as the hard tyre. Setup-wise we obviously have to run a soft car but there is some kind of compromise by having a soft car bottoming down to much and rolling too much so it’s not as comfortable over the bumps as we would like. But again it’s the first race with this car on a street course so I hope we can end up the weekend well and without any scratches. “
And Reiter Vattana Motorsport turned up the wick too as Khun Chonsawat Asavahame threw his weight into the qualifying mix with a blistering 1:41.866. That was good enough for P3, and left him the fastest of the four Lamborghini Gallardos entered in Class 1-GT3. He has a clear lead the Drivers’ championship, only Khun Tomáš is still in the reckoning, and Khun Chonsawat could very well wrap up the title by the end of today if everything goes his way during the opening race.
The closest challenger to Khun Tomáš for pole came from the returning Khun Piti Bhirombhakdi. The Porsche driver hasn’t been seen in Super Car since the season opener in Sepang back in May, but his speed is unquestioned – especially here as this driver is a real close quarters street fighter. Last year, driving his 997 GT3 Cup, he was faster than anyone else on the track, his pace was simply blistering and Khun Piti was very unlucky not to walk away with a win.
He’s going to want to put that right this weekend but the Camaro remains a huge obstacle to that objective – and his car provided no answers to that question on Thursday afternoon. However was Khun Piti glad to be back? “For Bangsaen, definitely, everyone is looking forward to coming back and racing here, to get successful here,” he said. “It’s one of the most acceptable races in South East Asia. You can see many people and many cars, many professional drivers have entered the races and even in the Endurance race with the small cars you can see big names. This race is what we’re waiting for.”
Khun Piti was instantly back in the groove, running quickly from the first moment he hit the track. “I’m quite happy that we can still manage a good performance, not the best performance, but we have to look at the regulations, the BoP for the car, the restrictor on the car,” he says, noting that the 997 GT3 Cup has relatively challenging FIA BoP this year. “From the data we can probably improve in the race half a second.”
He also notes the changes. “Last year I was driving 38.5 but with the restrictor and the new chicane and the condition of the track we are two to two and a half seconds slower than the record and that’s within the expectation of the team,” Khun Piti added. “The surprise is the time for Tomáš Enge, because we did everything we could for the car.”
Behind Khun Chonsawat, fourth fastest went to the Toyota M101-86 of Khun Kazuya Oshima, he posted a 1:43.108. After the new car’s stunning double TSS debut win in Buriram, the chances of a repeat of that feat are looking less likely this weekend. Team Manager Khun Suttipong Smittachartch noted that they faced a lot of challenges that weren’t in their favour.
“The street circuit is quite bumpy and on this car the ground clearance is very low so we cannot do the best setting for the car,” he explained. “The problem in the hairpin is the car cannot turn, we have a big turning circle and we try to adjust but because of the layout of the chassis, of the engine and the bumper we cannot do. This car has to go deeper.”
However Khun Suttipong says they will push as hard as they can and as this is a brand new breed of racecar the data and information they gather is invaluable to its future development. “The driver uses the best performance of the car that it can do,” he added. “This circuit is for the big torque engines, they have the benefit, because we have the tight corners that [are] too slow in and fast out, but this car is only 400 horsepower so loses a little bit, but we have to get data as this is a new car.”
Behind the Toyota will line up three Lamborghinis, with Khun Suttiluck Buncharoen in the black True Visions sponsored entry getting the nod with a best lap in 1:46.306; he was just a tenth ahead of Khun Indharasak Techaterasiri who was reunited with the car he drove last year.
In fact he was last seen at Sepang in May driving a McLaren in Class 1-GT3 and his new top flight machine is due here early next year so Khun Indharasak is keeping his hand in the game by stepping back into his old Gallardo.
Class 1-GT3 was however dealt a real blow as early as Tuesday as outgoing champion Khun Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak suffered a big impact with his Porsche 997 GT3-R in the afternoon session and the structural damage was simply too extensive to repair in time for the official action so the team had no choice but to withdraw the car. It was a huge disappointment for the fans to lose the double winner here last year so early on.
Qualifying: Super Car Class 2-GTM
Khun Darryl O’Young rocked into town with his reputation as a world-class professional driver going ahead of him along with an equally firm reputation as a street circuit expert. He didn’t disappoint one bit. His first free practice session on Wednesday morning was one to forget but in the second session he went straight to the top of the timesheets, comfortably clear of his closest rivals. That set the tone for the week and he hasn’t been away from the top of the timesheets since.
In the qualifying session, however, he brought out the red flags after suffering brake failure at the end of the high speed beach straight; the tight ‘S2 Hotel’ hairpin remaining well out of reach for the speeding Porsche and he went head on into the tyre wall on the approach to Pit In. It was a big impact certainly but it would fortunately turn out the car was repairable and Khun Darryl had already banged in the pole time. The driver was a little bit shaken for sure and there was plenty of work to do for the B-Quik crew – but, crucially, the job had been done, the pro had delivered.
“Qualifying was going reasonably well and it was all going to plan,” Khun Darryl explained in the garage afterwards. “I did a couple of warm up laps just to get the temperatures up and then I did two banker laps which gave me my two pole times. Then I went and started pushing more and I think my next lap was definitely going to be quite a bit quicker but unfortunately I lost my rear brakes.
“The guys are still trying to figure out what the problem was, but obviously there was an issue with my rear brakes,” he continued. “It was a pretty big crash, about 120 kilometres at the impact but the safety of the tyres there did their job, and the car is in reasonable condition and I’m 100% okay, just a bit sore as it was a high G [Force] impact.”
Khun Darryl, who has raced on streets everywhere from Monaco to Macau, was philosophical. “This kind of thing happens,” he said. “It’s a street race and crashes happen, we just need to get to the bottom of it so we’re ready to race. There’s damage to the front that looks reasonable [and] everything should be good. It helps we have the day off tomorrow and can inspect it properly, get everything done and make sure it’s ready for the race.”
The best always rise to the occasion. Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi has led the Drivers’ championship from the first race – but he’s seen his advantage whittled down to just one point coming into this week as factory Toyota driver, as well as reigning champion, Khun Nattavude Charoensukhawatana has closed right in. But Khun Voravud is fiercely competitive and he really wants to win this title. His team was the first to setup its garage on Monday and the first to have the car ready for action.
That attention to detail and slick preparation paid off and he was in sensational form during qualifying, banging in a 1:43.588 and that means he will line up on the outside of Row 1 this afternoon. To put that into context the time was just hundredths of a second off a world class professional and clearly demonstrates that Khun Voravud has now developed into one of Thailand’s best drivers. “Actually I didn’t expect this time, it’s a very good time,” said the delighted driver afterwards.
Khun Voravud always goes well at Bangsaen too, so it seems the advantage is back in the hands of the championship leader – and his Race Engineer Khun Gianluca Soli was also satisfied with where the team stands. “Qualifying was very good for us, Voravud drove very, very well he did an incredible laptime, he also did the same laptime as the pro driver in the Porsche so we’re very happy,” he said.
Khun Gianluca admitted they had lost valuable track time the previous day and that could have put them on the backfoot during qualifying. “[On Wednesday] we missed the last free practice for a technical issue with the car so we were a bit worried about qualifying as we didn’t try our qualifying simulation, but Voravud did a fantastic job, he’s happy with the car and we’re happy with the balance.”
In an impressive third was the first of the Nissan GT-R R35s, the #87 of Khun Traitanit Chimtawan. His best lap was a 1:43.993, which was less than half a second away from pole. That all came without much track running time as the team had missed the Tuesday sessions and were playing catch up on Wednesday, as Team Owner Khun Thongchai Kittisiriprasert explained. “We test [on Wednesday] morning with the same settings as Buriram and after just two or three laps it’s very bumpy and on one of the cars the bumper is too low and breaks and the oil cooler comes off also.
“So we stop the test in the morning and fix everything and we adjust the spring up and make it a softer spring,” Khun Thongchai continued. “In the afternoon the time is okay, and we test a few laps and come back for setting and alignment again so hopefully we can do good timing.” They did; good work by Khun Traitanit who is one of the most overlooked talents in Thai motorsport.
Improving everytime he gets in the car – that’s been the story of the season from Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul. And that pattern continued this week culminating in a 1:44.687 in qualifying which will put the former drift star on the second row alongside Khun Traitanit when the grid forms up this afternoon.
Khun Sarun has benefited from have a team behind him that is growing as a unit just as he is developing his potential. Khun Keita Sawa is helping setup the car and tutoring him as usual while in Khun Somboon Kittitanagorn he has a highly experienced race engineer who knows Porsches inside out.
The team had a few tricks up its sleeve this week, notably bringing a tyre warmer for the first time. That, Khun Somboon reckoned, had helped, along with making steady progress in evolving the car setup. “From [Wednesday] we change a little bit as it’s rolling too much, but today we adjust a bit at the front and rear of the same setup,” he explained. “We also try to warm the tyres by machine and we start to warm the tyres from before qualifying. After we warm the tyres it’s good and we can go faster than the day before, around 2 seconds quicker. So we change the tyre for one more set and warm by the machine again and then he goes out and can go faster than the first time, so we’re very happy with the improvement.”
The third row will be made up of the other two championship contenders. But they simply couldn’t live with Khun Voravud and both Khun Nattavude’s Toyota and Khun Aekarat Discharoen’s Porsche were over two seconds adrift of the Ferrari. They will both be hoping that they can now find a strong race pace.
Khun Nattavude said afterwards that he’d got the most he could out of the 86 during qualifying, but he was still coming up short. Meanwhile, having hauled himself into the title fight at the last round in Buriram with his first win of the year, Khun Aekarat was now finding the extra weight he earned there biting back at him. He also reckons that they aren’t quite there yet in setup terms.
But this is a driver who knows how to get a good result and he’s well positioned from the outside of Row 3 to make his claim on the title. “The time is not so good, the car is okay but we need to adjust the suspension but we have more time to setup,” he said after qualifying. “The weight is very important because I have 30 kilos more from Buriram so the car is a little bit too heavy for this track and the track is very bumpy and very sliding. I try to do the best I can and save everything for the race.”
In seventh place came Khun Henk Kiks in the B-Quik Audi with a 1:46.307. That was clearly a disappointing time for the Dutchman but he simply couldn’t find a clear lap in the traffic throughout qualifying and was caught by the red flags. His best sector times were robust so he has the setup and the pace, his task now will be to try to move forward on a circuit where passing is difficult.
Alongside Khun Henk on Row 4 will be the Holden of Khun Craig Corliss, he turned in a 1:48.200, while the fifth row will comprise of the Porsche of Khun Shuipang Kanjanapas (1:53.177) who did a very neat and tidy job in support of his ‘pro’ teammate Khun Darryl, and the Lamborghini of Khun Visarut Chotiwitsavaitkul (1:53.292).
Then comes the second NSports-Yokohama-Project Mu Team Thailand-entered Nissan GT-R, the #99 driven example by Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich; he will start in eleventh place this afternoon after posting a 1:54.973. He said that he was having problems with shifting down the gearbox but was having fun in the car. “The engine, Khun Jakthong said, “is very, very powerful.” That’s going to be useful this afternoon.
Khun Kantasak Kusiri has suffered a pretty tough rookie season in Super Car. He’s gone straight from a front wheel drive, front engine Honda sedan to a rear wheel drive, rear engine pukka racecar in Porsche’s ubiquitous 997 GT3 Cup. It’s something of a compromise car too, so not the easiest to be adapted to Super Car Class 2-GTM. However in Buriram it finally came together and the 24-year-old notched up his best result of the season as he nabbed the runners up spot in the second race. Bangsaen though is a great leveler, a track that allows talent to rise above machine and that’s helped Khun Kantasak to get on the pace during the session.
He posted his intent to have a good weekend on Wednesday during the afternoon’s final free practice session with a 1:44.915 lap and that put him second on the timesheets to Khun Darryl, a very respectable effort. In qualifying Khun Kantasak improved to a 1:43.658, which would have been good enough for P3, but he failed a post-session weight check and that means he will start from the back. It will be interesting to see what progress he can make up the order this afternoon.
Another driver who will be looking to make a run from the back will be the second factory Toyota 86 of Khun Nattapong Horthongkum. He picked up a penalty in Buriram, which will see him start from the rear of the grid today, but he’s always fast on this track so expect him to be pushing hard to reach the podium.
Then there is the new Innovation Motorsport Mazda RX-8. It arrived in the paddock on Tuesday evening after clearing customs the day before and having a new transmission fitted. The car, which came here direct from the Macau Grand Prix event, is being bedded in this weekend by the Thai team and in getting up to speed with the new car they are being assisted by engineers who have flown over from Japanese Mazda affiliate team Knight Sports, the outfit that built the car and ran it in Macau.
Behind the wheel is Khun Michael Freeman. It’s a big step for driver and team – learning as much as they can about their new car is the main objective and there were a few teething troubles as the official programme got underway. “In the first [Free Practice] session I only did three laps as we had a fuel pump problem,” said Khun Michael. “Then second time I was very wary of the Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 cars out there and I try to learn more about the car.”
It’s a case of lots of small steps this weekend. “We were running a lot less boost,” he admitted. “The aim is to keep out of the way and try and get as many laps in as possible, we got through qualifying and now try to finish both races and so we’re on course for our objectives.” Indeed, the Australian’s times have been improving with every session.
Khun Michael is used to racing pickup trucks and over the last two seasons Mazda2s in Super Production – so it’s a big step forward and he has to learn and understand the potential of the car. “I’ve got to get confidence in the brakes, it’s first time I’ve driven a car without a power booster so it’s very, very different between the Mazda2 and this, you feel like it’s not going to stop so you have to push harder and push harder on it,” he said. “But it’s got a lot of grip, it’s just about getting confidence in the car, not making any mistakes and giving a lot of feedback as I have to read the gauges off and tell the engineers what gong on.”
Clearly though Khun Michael is enjoying himself. The car itself is beautifully built, as one would expect from Knight Sports, and it looks pretty – its certainly going to be a very welcome full time addition to the Super Car paddock next year. Khun Michael got into the 1:55s in qualifying which put him on the tail of the last third of the field so a respectable start.
Qualifying: Super Car Class 3-GTC
Coming into Bangsaen with a win in the second place at the last round in Buriram, Khun Akihiro Asai carried that scintillating form over by banging in an impressive 1:52.983 best lap in Thursday’s qualifying session; that gave him a comfortable pole position. The Japanese driver knows Bangsaen very well and he always goes fast on street circuits too – in fact he nicked in at the very end to win the Super Car N/A title on these streets in 2011, then he was driving a Porsche.
That was his debut year in Super Car. This season he’s swapped to a Ferrari 430 Challenge and joined the new Class 3-GTC where he has looked fast. If the car responds well to the weekend, expect Khun Akihiro to be looking towards the top step of the podium.
But he will face a challenge at the front from the ‘other’ red sportscar on the grid, the Ginetta G55 of Khun Naputt Assakul, which will line up alongside him this afternoon. Khun Naputt turned in a 2:01.607 in qualifying, but that’s only half the story – the main script was that his team finally got to the bottom of electrical issues that bugged them during the tail end of the weekend in Buriram and that means they’re now moving swiftly forward in the right direction.
“My alternator went dead [on Wednesday] so I didn’t have any battery so the car shut down,” Khun Naputt explained. “Which is good actually because we’ve been having a problem with high rpm since the second race in Buriram and I couldn’t figure out what had happened. But now we know it’s an electrical problem so now we change the alternator it’s better. I only had two good laps yesterday, so in qualifying it was pretty much practice and qualifying, testing the gears, the brakes, etcetera, but today we had a good run.”
Khun Naputt is a gentleman driver, albeit a gentleman that is getting quicker and quicker, and he was enjoying being behind the wheel of the Ginetta and back out on the streets of Bangsaen where the agile little British racecar could thrive. “I’m very happy with the car on the track,” he said. “We still have a problem with the top end power, but that’s down to tuning because we tune the car from last time without the knowledge of the electrical problem. So now the electrical problem is solved so we have to retune it [Thursday night] and besides that everything is good, the track is lovely.”
Khun Suttipong Smittachartch claimed P3 with the new Toyota 86 he’s just built for Class 3-GTC and debuted in Buriram. His 2:03.152 best lap puts him in the hunt and the Toyota Team Thailand Team Manager will be looking to get into the action in today and tomorrow’s races. Starting alongside him will be the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup of Khun Sontaya Kunplome and expect these two to indulge in another of their usual ding-dong battles. Also in action will be the Nissan of Khun Narin Yensuk; he missed the trip to Buriram but will be back on the grid again with the white Skyline.
Qualifying: Super 2000
There weren’t any surprises at the top end of Super 2000 as reigning champion Khun Tin Sritrai quickly closes in on a second straight title. He took full advantage of his BMW E90’s superior traction to set pole with a 1:51.005, a full 1.3 seconds clear of his closest rival. Impressive stuff and if he continues in that form, barring any technical issues, he should wrap up the prestigious overall Super 2000 Drivers’ title by the end of the first race.
Joining Khun Tin on the front row of the grid this afternoon will be the ‘best of the rest’ and it was another fighting performance from Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem in his Honda Civic FD; he posted a 1:52.336 fastest lap. He leads out the front wheel drive cars and most crucially he’s on Class B pole – his objective this weekend. Well he has two actually, the runner up spot in the overall championship. Khun Pitsanu came to Bangsaen level pegging in second place in the overall classification with Toyota factory driver Khun Manat Kulapalanont but with the latter only qualifying down in eleventh place, the advantage has gone to Khun Pitsanu, now he has to make that cushion pay off in the race.
In fact even more impressively, the black #90 Honda edged out professional star Khun Carlo Van Dam (1:52.666) by three-tenths of a second and Khun Pitsanu actually has three Class A drivers behind him giving him an advantage to the second fastest Class B driver, who was Khun Munkong Sathienthirakul (1:53.496) but he isn’t in the top championship hunt.
Khun Carlo in the Singha Motorsport Team Thailand Civic FD will have youngster Khun Kantadhee Kusiri alongside him this afternoon on Row 2, the Singha XO Team Eakie Toyota Altezza being good for a 1:52.736 during qualifying. Row 3 will be made up of the Honda DC5 of Khun Chayut Yangpichit (1:53.068) and he will be hoping to build on his impressive run in Buriram and Khun Munkong who is the second quickest in Class B.
Row 4 will see the winner of the first Super 2000 race in Buriram, Khun Hideharu Kuroki (1:53.501) lead out Khun Nattachak Hanjitkasem (1:54.334). The Japanese driver didn’t have the best qualifying session and will be looking to push up the order while the latter enjoyed a good run and will want to build on that.
The fifth and sixth rows of the grid are comprised of fast drivers that would all expect to be higher up the order: Khun Chen Jian Hong, Khun Thamrong Mahadumrongkul, Khun Manat and Khun Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya. They’re all locked into battle in the overall and class championship standings so expect some real close action as this quartet joust both with each other and the cars in front.
There were a few incidents in qualifying. Khun Supachai Weeraborwornpong re-profiled his bright orange DC5’s bodywork and brought out the red flags before he had posted a time that was fully representative – so he will start from P17 on the grid and will have a lot of work to do to make progress.
But that’s still better than another established front-runner, Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich, who saw his brakes lock up solid right at the start of the session and so without a single lap time to his name he’s going to be right at the back, in P21, when the lights go green this afternoon. He’s a real fighter though; so don’t expect his distinctive blue and white Toyota Altis to remain back there for too long.
Qualifying & Race 1: Super Pickup
There was a bit of an upset amongst the trucks as Khun Aekaluck Nakkerd emerged with pole position, deposing the already-crowned 2014 champion, Khun Pete Thongchua, down into P2. The Class C driver turned in a 2:05.925, which was three-tenths faster than Khun Pete managed. In reality though Khun Pete was in something of a void without timing feedback and missed the window.
There is a lot to be decided in the truck category in overall, Class B and Class C terms and the grid was a bit mixed up, Khun Pete’s teammate Khun Phisit Netdechathanasit only qualified in P9 while Khun Waris Onyarab, who took the fight to Khun Pete in all three races in Buriram, was moved to the back of the timesheets after failing a post session technical check.
The trucks had their programme scheduling switched forward by a day this year, and that meant the first race in fact took place late yesterday afternoon while the second and final race will come up today. There weren’t any surprises either, as Khun Pete waited around for a lap before sailing past Khun Aekaluck as the pair headed for Turn 2 the second time around.
That was game over as Khun Pete cruised to another win to make it six out of seven this year for the yellow #17 Mazda BT-50. Khun Waris flew up the order and was into P3 after a couple of laps but an enforced pit visit proved costly and he dropped back. Khun Phisit also suffered technical problems and fell away while Khun Nuthaporn Namjuk dropped out late in the race after suffering major front-end damage to his Toyota Vigo.
Qualifying: Super 1500
First blood in Super 1500 has gone to Khun Anon Rodprasert; he posted a 2:00.443 straight off in qualifying and once the session clock had ticked away to zero no one had been able to match that time in the hot and dry conditions of Thursday afternoon in Bangsaen.
In fact, in the end, that fastest lap time put the experienced Khun Anon more than half a second clear of his closest rival, who turned out to be Khun Nuttapong Lertlumprasertkul. His best laptime, in 2:01.025, earned him a place on the outside of the front row for this morning’s first race, which kicks off at the early time of 0905.
But it’s shaping up to be a real battle in Super 1500 as the usual suspects are clustered together at the front. Behind Khun Anon and Khun Nuttapong on Row 2 comes Khun Komkrit Lertlumprasertkul (2:01.988) and the newly crowned champion Khun Weerasak Homsuwan (2:05.206).
Row 3 will be made up of Khun Theerasak Sakpahaet and Khun Sorasak Saeng-xuto, these two lead out Class C. Phuwarit Makmu is next up, as well as third in Class C while Khun Tony Percy completes the fourth row. Fifteen cars set a time in Super 1500 during qualifying.
Qualifying: Super Production
Pole went to Khun Passakron Yamgathom with a 2:03.706 and he was just two-tenths of a second ahead of championship leader Khun Pasarit Phromsombat. Danish driver Khun Anders Majgaard was next up to kick off the second row; he ran out a 2:05.536 to head up Row 2.
Next to him will be Khun Pasarit’s close rival for the title, Khun Kajornsak Na Songkhla. The reigning champion is driving NSports’ #4 Honda City for the second event in succession and that in fact makes it an all-City mounted lineup on Row 2.
Khun Thanapol Pruttipong leads out Row 3 with a 2:06.790 in his #23 OMP Vattana Jazz while Khun Phong Trakulthong is alongside – but more significantly he’s the top Class C driver. The fourth row has two big Super Production names sitting alongside each other, Khun Piyalert Boonyakiat has a race win already this year in the category and he edges out Khun Michael Freeman in the #55 factory supported Mazda2.
Just two-tenths of a second behind Khun Michael is his teammate Khun Pete Thongchua with Khun Chairat Luanglai, who is also second in Class C, rounding out the top ten on the grid. Twenty-one cars set a time in qualifying and with the overall title at stake expect a lot of close fought action during the two races.
Qualifying: Super Eco
Pole went to Khun Naruchit Kiatmaneesri in the #46 Team Donut Honda Brio. He thumped in a 2:13.261, which was unbeaten. In fact that was 1.2 seconds quicker than the next best time, which came from another Super Eco front-runner, Khun Peerawat Tawantarong who will join Khun Naruchit on the front row.
Third went to the youngest driver on the grid, Khun Kmik Karnasuta who was another 1.2 seconds further back meaning the top three in Super Eco are unusually quite well spread out. But race pace is always very different so expect a big tussle.
There are further variables as the first Super Eco race of the weekend takes place this morning at 0830 so the track conditions will be quickly changing – however the tiny 1.2-litre cars will in fact be the second race on track this morning as TCSA will get the green lights at the very early time of 0745.
Joining Khun Kmik on the second row of the grid will be Khun Chitipong Boonbangyang while the next row is made up of Khun Bhisanu Bhusitarnuntakul and the championship leader Khun Poomee Phromatham who can wrap up the title in the first race this morning with a strong points scoring finish.
The fastest of the four lady drivers competing in Super Eco this weekend is Khun Tachanan Yooyen. The Suzuki Swift driver has looked strong all through the practice sessions and will start from P14, that’s one place in front of the unique Kia Picanto, which will start P15 in the hands of Khun Rattanin Leenutaphong. In total eighteen cars took part in the qualifying session on Thursday.