Thailand Super Series (TSS) rolled into the ‘home of motorsport’ last weekend for its penultimate round of the year and immediately lived up to all the hype delivering what everyone has come to expect from the ‘New Era’ of Thai racing.

Short, tight, twisty and ageing, Bira International Circuit always tests man and machine to the very limits, it takes no prisoners or respects big reputations and that was the same story, emotions boiling over as TSS played out its explosive bumper programme in this historic 2.4-km long cauldron of passion.

At the top of the motorsport pyramid Super Car Class 2-GTM delivered two thrilling action packed races that had the fans on their feet and which, significantly, also had a huge impact on the top of the championship classification.

In Saturday’s race reigning champion Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi bounced back from a thus far very difficult title defence to take his first win of the year in the opening race while the win on Sunday went to Khun Jack Lemvard who took his second victory of the year and made up for disappointment in the first race when he retired while seemingly on his course to a comfortable victory.

In the Drivers’ championship battle Khun Craig Corliss turned the tables on Khun Kantasak Kusiri, the points classification leader going into this round. The experienced New Zealander ripped 13 points out of the Thai youngster’s advantage on Saturday to turn an 8 point deficit at the start of the race into a 5 point advantage overnight.

Meanwhile in the second race the Ferrari driver made up for his torrid opening race to chip 3 points back from Khun Craig and that leaves the pair split by just 2 points heading into the final event in Bangsaen in November. It’s set to be another nail biting race to the title and it will be even more drama laden as the season closer will feature a triple header for the first time ever.

Race Report: Super Car Class 2-GTM, Saturday

Khun Jack Lemvard unusually lined up on the inside as pole position swapped sides of the track for this race. He got away cleanly when the lights turned green for the rolling start while his teammate Khun Akihiro Asai in tucked behind as the two Vattana Lamborghinis immediately turned their qualifying pace into race pace and started to pull away from the pack on the first lap.

Behind them Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem kept his position safe and held off the Holden Commodore of Khun Craig Corliss. Then came the first factory Toyota of Khun Nattavude Charoensukhawatana, the Singha Motorsport Team Thailand Ferrari of Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi, the Porsche of Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem, the Ferrari of Khun Bhurit Bhirombhakdi, the second Singha Motorsport Team Thailand Ferrari Khun Kantasak Kusiri, who had taken a five place grid penalty and also dropped a place at the start, while the second factory entered Toyota 86 of Khun Nattapong Horthongkum wrapped up the top ten.

Khun Craig lost a couple of places at the hairpin so as the pack swept down through 100R for the first time the two Vattana cars were in charge at the front with Khun Pitsanu already dropping away a few cars length and having to keep an eye on his mirrors as the red and white #39 Toyota started to take a look at him. Khun Craig recovered to hold onto P5 with Khun Voravud pressuring him.

A little further back Khun Suttiluck Buncharoen had nipped past Khun Nattapong to move into the top ten while just behind them the two B-Quik cars had swapped places, Khun Daniel Bilski in the #27 Porsche getting the jump on Henk Kiks in the #26 Audi and the two black and yellow cars would in fact scrap together for almost the whole race.

Through the second and third lap of the race the big battle was the one for P3 as Khun Pitsanu defended from Khun Nattavude with Khun Craig breaking away from Khun Voravud and jumping the three or fourth car lengths required to home in on the battle in front. Khun Pitsanu had a few brake lockups as he soaked up the pressure. Behind them Khun Voravud some clear air had opened up on either side of him but astern there was a battle brewing as Khun Sarun fended off the Ferraris of Khun Bhurit and Khun Kantasak.

On the fifth lap Khun Craig barged past the Toyota into fourth and the big New Zealander was now flying, he was the driver on the move. Further back Khun Suttiluck spun at Turn 2 and lost a lot of time getting the car round the right way again while behind him Khun Henk had to indulge in some kerb hopping to ensure he avoided the black Porsche.

A lap later Khun Craig muscled the big green Holden past the sleek gold Porsche of Khun Pitsanu and quickly started to break away. The enthralling battle for P3, which had grown to include more cars, was finally broken up. Khun Voravud had already closed in on the tail of this scrap and the back of Khun Nattavude while just behind, Khun Sarun, Khun Bhurit and Khun Kantasak had all closed up on the red Ferrari.

The mid order train would be turned on its head as Khun Voravud continued to pressurise Khun Nattavude. The two touched coming out of Turn 2 and the Toyota was the big loser, the car spinning and dropping a lot of time as the driver found a gap, maneuvered the car back round and bobbled over the grass run off and finally back onto the track. Khun Nattavude would however head for the pitlane and retire from the race.

Once he got clear Khun Craig quickly pulled away but with the Lamborghinis already a long way down the road he would settle into P3 as the race moved towards one-third distance. Khun Pitsanu next up was coming under pressure from Kun Voravud while Khun Sarun behind was being pushed by Khun Kantasak and Khun Nattapong was chipping away and moving up the order as Khun Bhurit dropped back behind him.

Then on the ninth lap the Lamborghini 1-2 cruise at the front abruptly ended in dramatic fashion as Khun Jack suffered a left hand rear deflation just after the pits and started to limp round. The tyre jumped off the rim as he ran downhill from the hairpin and he headed into the gravel at the entry to 100R and parked up, however that was not before the flailing tyre had broken the oil cooler and dropped some oil on the track.

At the same time Khun Akihiro started to suffer gearshift problems in the #4 Lamborghini and rapidly began to drop down the running order; he would eventually call it a day after 15 laps after ending up with a box full of neutrals.

It was a bitter bow for Vattana Motorsport as they had looked to be on a certain cruise towards victory. Khun Jack had the consolation however of setting the fastest lap of the race in 1:02.668, the only driver to dip below the 1:03 barrier, while Khun Akihiro posted the second fastest time in 1:03.045.

As that drama was shaking out at the front Khun Voravud squeezed past Khun Pitsanu after getting a good run down the inside into Turn 2 and that battle for P4 was suddenly the battle for P2 as the Lamborghinis vanished from the timing screens and Khun Craig was elevated to P1. That was a big boost to his championship hopes and it immediately got even better for the New Zealander as the championship classification leader, Khun Kantasak, pitted with a puncture.

As the race progressed Khun Craig would dramatically go off on the oil dropped at 100R but he kept the big machine together as he bounced at high speed through the runoff and back onto the track. He was lucky to emerge unscathed but lost P1 to Khun Voravud who had been tailing him at a distance of around five seconds but hadn’t been able to close right in.

Behind them Khun Sarun was fending off Khun Nattapong who was seeing the race coming towards him and he was steadily moving up the running order. The Toyota eventually passed the Porsche and in fact Khun Nattapong would successfully work his way up to P4 at the checkered flag, one place behind Khun Bhurit who had a superb race and came back into the reckoning to climb up to P3.

The race long battle between the B-Quik cars had been decided when Khun Henk eventually passed his teammate. But the Dutchman wasn’t able to enjoy the moment for long as the Audi hit oil going into 100R, shot into the gravel, bounced into the air and landed smack bang on top of the tyre wall. It was a huge moment that was captured dramatically on the TV feed and even more surprising than the size of the impact was the news from the B-Quik garage later on that the Audi was actually unscathed once half a gravel trap had been hoovered out of the car.

That was the race action over and Khun Voravud led the weary survivors over the line to take his first win of the year. The reigning champion had found a lot more pace from practice onwards and was back at the business end of the action on a track that clearly suited the Ferrari much better than Buriram. He put his win down to a number of factors. “The car is improved for sure,” he said. “Last year we had a lot of weight on the car, this year it’s totally different, I was doing maybe seven to eight tenths faster than last year. I could have done better in qualifying but my car broke down so I didn’t have the chance to qualify with many laps.

“Starting fifth was good,” Khun Voravud continued. “The car is good and obviously my driving is getting better with the help of my engineer and Carlo [Van Dam] my coach so we really put all the bits and pieces together. We knew from the beginning we’re not as competitive as the Lamborghini, but we just had to keep pushing and the car is reliable and the time is very consistent and it paid back and when Craig went off that helped. I got back to the rhythm of last year; we understood Bira and Bangsaen would be our strong circuits and we have a chance of being on the podium. For me I’m happy.”
 
After his excursion Khun Craig did well to get it all back together and come home second, 5.852 seconds adrift of the Ferrari, which allowed him to scoop up 15 vital championship points. With the classification leader, Khun Kantasak, having to spend time in the pits on a torrid afternoon and collecting just 2 points, that turned the New Zealander’s 8 point deficit in the title race coming into Bira into a 5 point lead overnight.

Khun Craig put his race pace down to a big improvement in his driving as well as the ground up overhaul the Holden received last winter. “Basically my driving has improved out of sight, I’m braking later and I’m going harder through the chicanes,” he said. “We still have an issue through some of the turns that my car just doesn’t want to turn regardless of which line I take or which gear I use, but apart from that we were going very well, very strong.
 
“We had a bit of luck as cars fell away and then five laps to go I was in the lead by six seconds and unfortunately I hit some oil on the fast sweeper and I was lucky to get back on,” the New Zealander continued. “I just drove the [life] out of the car to get back on and finished second.”

Twelve seconds back down the road Khun Bhurit claimed a very impressive third place, fighting his way up the order after losing ground early on. It was an excellent drive from the Super Car ‘rookie’ who is becoming more and more at home in the grey Ferrari. He also benefited from extra coaching by Japanese star Khun Naoki Yokomizo on Wednesday and Thursday.

Also pushing his way up the order during the race and taking full advantage of the attrition rate, including the demise of his teammate, was the #38 factory Toyota of Khun Nattapong. With the third Toyota Team Thailand entry of Khun Manat Kulapalanont surviving to finish in P8 that meant two of the three 86s finished in the points, albeit it was small consolation for the loss of the team-leading car of Khun Nattavude.

Khun Sarun did very well to claim the last step on the podium and was the first of the Porsche drivers to the flag. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time at points during the race, but the ‘997 generation’ is also showing its age and that was really the maximum performance that could be extracted from his car.

“The start was quite good, I didn’t loose any positions,” said Khun Sarun afterwards. “I get some back luck as Khun Nattavude slowed down and went in the pits and two or three cars passed me and another bad luck was with the 991 as I try to pass him at the hairpin and he overshoot and I avoid an accident and cars passed me but I followed them and get the positions back.”

Khun Daniel battled with his teammate for almost the whole race and claimed P6 for his hard work. After being up at the business end of the action early on Khun Pitsanu slipped away towards the end but still came home in P7. After the race the team discovered camber alignment issues and that had greatly impacted on the car’s driveability.

Khun Manat was next up while the final classified runner was the Ferrari of championship leader Khun Kantasak. He had a torrid afternoon and after starting back in P8 thanks to a five-place grid penalty he was caught in the midfield action and although he started to raise his pace a lengthy pit visit for a tyre change left him 4 laps down. However he battled on tenaciously, showed his superb pace and the 2 points he eventually picked up for finishing P9 were a small reward for his efforts but could still prove invaluable come the end of the season.

There were four retirements during the race Khun Nattavude (7 laps), Khun Jack (9 laps), Khun Akihiro (15 laps) and Khun Henk (26 laps) while two cars, the Porsches of Khun Suttiluck and Khun Shuipang, failed post race technical checks and were excluded from the final results.

Race Report: Super Car Class 2-GTM, Sunday
 
Khun Jack led out the grid lineup in the #44 Lamborghini for Sunday’s second race but this time he would have the #34 Ferrari of Khun Kantasak alongside him, so he would have to be quick away, while Khun Akihiro led out the second row with Khun Pitsanu sitting alongside. The third row comprised of the top two finishers from the previous day, Khun Voravud and Khun Craig. Then came Khun Sarun and Khun Nattavude while the top ten on the grid was completed by Khun Bhurit and Khun Nattapong. The sixth row saw Khun Bobby and Khun Henk alongside each other while the remaining starters were Khun Daniel, Khun Manat and Khun Shuipang before Khun Thamrong Mahadumrongkul, who hadn’t participated in the previous day’s race or the qualifying session, closed out the grid.

The last driver was making a very low-key debut in Super Car in his recently acquired Ferrari 458 Challenge. Khun Thamrong, one of the leading stars of Super 2000 over recent years, will kick off in Super Car properly in Bangsaen and so this was something a toe dip ‘test session’ for him ahead of that event. By starting Sunday’s race that would also see him drop off the mandatory 50 kg ‘late entry’ ballast ahead of the prestigious street race event in November.

Just as the race was about to start light drizzle fell on parts of the circuit and that caused a ten-minute delay, the skies though would remain clear for the rest of the afternoon as indeed they had been for the whole weekend.

At the green lights there was a clean getaway from the pack as Khun Jack led Khun Kantasak, Khun Akihiro and Khun Pitsanu into the first left hander while Khun Craig got a good run down the inside into Turn 2 to nip past Khun Voravud, as Khun Nattavude would also quickly do. Over the first lap Khun Bhurit dropped back and that left Khun Voravud in the middle of a Toyota sandwich. Khun Daniel meanwhile traded places with his teammate Khun Henk as another battle of the yellow and black cars looked all ready to play out.

By the next lap the top three, Khun Jack, Khun Kantasak and Khun Akihiro started to pull away while Khun Craig quickly got past Khun Pitsanu into P4 and that had already reduced the New Zealander’s ‘on the road’ points deficit to his championship rival, Khun Kantasak, who was just two places ahead.

The three leaders quickly moved away but with a couple of car lengths between them there wasn’t the opportunity for anyone to get close enough to think about making a pass. A bit further back Khun Nattavude was closing in on Khun Pitsanu while a few places further back Khun Sarun was keen to find a way past Khun Nattapong.

At the tail end of the pack Khun Thamrong was called in by his team at the conclusion of the first lap to check everything and was then sent back out to get a few more laps experience. He would eventually cover 16 laps before the team ended his running but he had already looked quite neat and tidy in the unsorted new car. In the end his best lap was a respectable 01:08.742.

An underrated driver Khun Thamrong has been struggling with a Honda Civic FD that’s been well behind the curve in Super 2000 for more than a year; however he should be right in the Super Car mix once he’s fully bedded in. Certainly another one for the fans to look out for next year and clearly he’s capable of pulling off a surprise in Bangsaen.

Khun Sarun ended up off the track at Turn 2 after an incident and the Safety Car was deployed. Khun Nattapong ended up with rear damage to the #38 Toyota but was able to continue although he lost a lot of places and would have to nurse his car for the rest of the race.

As the Safety Car picked up the field it was Khun Jack from Khun Kantasak, Khun Akihiro, Khun Craig, Khun Pitsanu, Khun Nattavude, Khun Voravud, Khun Bhurit, Khun Suttiluck, Khun Henk who had squeezed past his teammate Khun Daniel, Khun Nattapong, Khun Shuipang and Khun Thamrong.

When racing resumed positions remained the same as Khun Jack took control once again with Khun Kantasak and Khun Akihiro slotting in behind. However the Japanese driver would soon suffer a reoccurrence of the shifting problems he had endured the day before but this time they wouldn’t be terminal and although he lost some time and Khun Craig elbowed his way through, Khun Akihiro was able to manage the car to the finish and in the end only lost one place.

Khun Voravud resumed pressurising the #39 Toyota and he would eventually pass him and successfully hold Khun Nattavude behind him over the closing laps.

After his dramatic exit from Race 1 Khun Henk was back in business with the almost undamaged Audi and after passing his teammate early on he set about chasing down Khun Suttiluck and passing the black True Visions Porsche.

That was about it for the race action and after 25 laps and nearly half an hour of racing Khun Jack, after a careful and controlled drive in hot conditions, took the checkered flag first, making up for his big disappointment the previous day and bagging his second Super Car win from the last four races. After his time out of racing he’s back in business in style and once again he’s the driver that everyone has to beat, be it in Super Car or for that matter in Super 2000.

Afterwards Khun Jack admitted he had been concerned about the tyres during the race. “I used the old tyres from yesterday so in the end they started going off and I was really worried as in the first race they popped, but I controlled it all the way through. I was really happy with the team, it’s just been great.”

Khun Kantasak followed him over the line. The youngster couldn’t get close enough to the Lamborghini in front to think about making a pass during the early stages while he also didn’t want to risk a compromising a high scoring finish in terms of the championship. Following his puncture the previous day he didn’t have an optimum mix of tyres on the car and as the race progressed he reported over the radio major understeering issues, the team telling him to hold station and conserve his position.

Khun Kantasak came into the weekend with an 8-point lead in the championship. That abruptly swung the other way after the first race becoming a 5-point advantage to Khun Craig and although Khun Kantasak picked up 15-points for the runners up spot Khun Craig was next up to limit the claw back to 3-points. It means the gap between these two is just 2-points going into the season closing triple-header in Bangsaen. That’s as tight as it possibly could be.

Khun Craig did what he needed to do and that was to pass all the cars in between the green Holden and the white Ferrari. He did that with determination, bouncing the big car over the kerbs all weekend, aggressively attacking Bira and improving his pace as he rises to the challenge of trying to win the championship. He was three and a half seconds back from Khun Kantasak at the checkered flag but not quite able to bridge the gap.

The New Zealander will be happy with his weekend’s work, albeit probably a tinge disappointed to have dropped five points the day before when he had an excursion at 100R. But he’s right in the championship game now. “The car was as good as gold,” he said after the race. “I started a bit slow, got squeezed up and then just settled into the pace and pushed on. I was in fourth for most of the race but overtook the red Lamborghini and once I saw the other two I settled into third, I didn’t want to push it too much, the tyres were gone so I settled to keep the championship in good shape.”

Fourth place went to Khun Akihiro who had to manage the Gallardo’s gearshifting issues to reach the podium and come home just a couple of seconds behind the Holden but a comfortable eleven seconds clear of the Porsche of Khun Pitsanu who nabbed the final podium position.

“It was a good race,” said the Japanese driver afterwards. “I was hoping to get [Khun Kantasak] but from the middle of the race he was getting better and better and my car started to have some problems with the gearbox and in the end I even thought I maybe can’t make it to the finish but luckily I at least made it. It was a bit of a pity that the third place position slipped out of my hands but it was okay enough to make it to the finish and hopefully the team can fix the problem for Bangsaen.”

The ‘gold’ 991 was in the podium position action almost all weekend and driver and team can be very pleased with the progressive step forward they made at this round. “We fixed all the problems [from Saturday’s race] but we are still looking for more speed,” Khun Pitsanu said afterwards. “It was a very hard race [but] I feel good with this fifth place, [it’s] a better experience than some of the first places that I won.”

Sixth place went to Khun Voravud who edged his way past Khun Nattavude but couldn’t quite get on terms with Khun Pitsanu who was holding down the final podium position. However the reigning champion can be very pleased with his pace all weekend.

After his DNF in the first race Khun Nattavude came home in seventh place but it was meager pickings for a driver and team that is bred on achieving so much success. Khun Bhurit and Khun Henk finished in eighth and ninth places respectively, in fact fifth to ninth positions were covered by less than 5 seconds. Khun Bhurit made it two points scoring finishes from the weekend, his best performance to date in his TSS rookie year while Khun Henk should have been satisfied to pick up points after his dramatic accident with the Audi the day before.

Khun Suttiluck completed the top ten while the final classified finishers comprised of the two Toyotas of Khun Nattapong and Khun Manat and the Porsche of Khun Shuipang. Aside from Khun Sarun who retired early on, the DNF list was completed by Khun Daniel, who broke a drive belt on the seventeenth lap and parked the #27 Porsche up very quickly before there was any damage to the engine, and the Ferrari of Khun Thamrong who parked up after sixteen laps having given the car a decent shakedown, a longer run than had been expected.