It really is ‘Game On’ at Bira Circuit as Thailand Super Series (TSS) kicks off its race weekend this morning at 0900 sharp, leading into an intensive schedule that will run until the shadows lengthen over the historic Pattaya racetrack late tomorrow afternoon.
In the cauldron of challenge and emotion that is Bira International Circuit, it’s boiling over already as a long Friday afternoon of gripping qualifying action saw the drivers and teams show their hand for the first time. The pace was electric across most categories with impressive times being posted.
In Super Car Class 2-GTM the Vattana Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardos set the pace with Khun Jack Lemvard and Khun Akihiro Asai locking out the front row of the grid while in Class 3-GTC Khun Grant Supaphong was the clear pole winner in his Mitsubishi Evo. There was hard fought action in absolutely everything from pickups through to eco cars and the stage is set for a competitive weekend.
Hovering about all the proceedings is the threat of rain. It’s typical of Bira Circuit, one of the toughest of challenges on a sunny dry and pleasant day, at this time of year in the midst of the rainy season it becomes even more demanding as the weather conditions demand that only the best – and the bravest – rise to the top.
The drivers and teams started testing on Wednesday and that really was the calm before the storm as the mild day turned ferocious on Thursday, it rained overnight and then the rain came and went all day. It meant everyone had one eye on the track and one on the skies.
The forecast for the weekend is possible rain on both days so a huge variable is sitting ready to join the mix. However it stayed dry all day yesterday and that could be a sign of better conditions to come.
Qualifying: Super Car Class 2-GTM
Now fully honed and looking much more finished with signature Vattana Motorsport decals in place, the ‘white’ #44 Lamborghini Gallardo LP520 of Khun Jack Lemvard and the ‘red’ #4 version of his teammate Khun Akihiro Asai were menacing throughout Thursday’s unofficial practice sessions, the cars showing a very quick turn of pace.
That ‘catch me if you can’ speed translated into Friday morning’s official free practice session and Khun Jack turned in a blistering 1:01.742, which placed him firmly in P1 and almost nine-tenths of a second ahead of the next quickest car, the big Holden Commodore VE of Khun Craig Corliss. It sent the stage perfectly for the late afternoon official qualifying session.
Red flags broke up the smooth running of the 30-minute session but Khun Jack wasn’t troubled at the front, he continued to make himself at home at the top of the timesheets and shaved half a second off his morning time. His fastest qualifying lap in 1:01.022 was quite sensational.
Khun Akihiro led the chase but his best was a 1:01.845 and that was 0.623 seconds off Khun Jack. That though gives Vattana Motorsport a solid lockout of the front row. “The car feels good, we have a good setup so we can’t really complain,” said Khun Jack afterwards. “We came here to test about two weeks ago and we’re doing about the same times, we have got one two on the grid today so that’s the best we could hope for.”
His teammate was quick to point out that they had shown pace with the cars in the last round and that the team was continuing to build on that foundation. “The car was good in Buriram,” said Khun Akihiro. “There was so much traffic in the first half of qualifying today that I think I lost my best lap in the traffic but I’m very happy to be on the front row and teammate Jack right beside me.”
He also reckons that they will have a real fight on their hands this afternoon. “The laptimes are very close between us and with other competitors and I think it’s going to be a close race but of course from Buriram it’s a different story, it’s different characteristics, a different type of track but I’m look forward to the race,” he added.
Three drivers in fact turned in sub-1:02 laps as Khun Kantasak Kusiri posted a 1:01.910. He has an 8-point lead in the Drivers’ championship standings coming into the weekend but he also has a 5-place grid penalty to apply today. The youngster, who is driving out of his skin this year in Singha Motorsport Team Thailand’s #34 Ferrari 458 Challenge, has a lot of pressure on his young shoulders but unquestionably he’s one of Thailand’s great hopes for the future. That penalty though mean he starts from P8 on the grid and that’s going to see the ‘white’ Ferrari charging hard up the field.
Now really getting to grips with his striking new #90 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup in his Super Car rookie year, Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem set the fourth fastest time and will lead out Row 2 once Khun Kantasak’s grid penalty is applied. It was a highly impressive performance from a driver who has made the jump this season from a long career in front wheel drive Japanese touring cars to an entirely different beast, a rear engine German sportscar.
Khun Craig Corliss has been wrestling the Holden around Bira with a lot of confidence, bouncing the big green machine off the kerbs and certainly it’s been one of the most entertaining cars to watch over the last couple of days. The ‘Australian V8 Supercar’ breed shouldn’t really be at home here but Khun Craig always gets them to work well. If it rains though he’s going to be on the backfoot, the big front heavy machine will be a real handful if the track gets very slippery.
The New Zealander is on good form though. He really wants to win the title this year and senses that this is going to be his best opportunity, he set the fifth fastest time in qualifying and once the order is settled he will be on Row 2. He needs to keep the big green machine in front of the sleek white Ferrari thoughout in both races if he’s to close down that 8-point deficit.
Sixth fastest time went to the #1 Ferrari of Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi; he turned in a very good lap in 1:02.662. The reigning Class 2-GTM champion’s car needed rescuing late in the session and brought out the red flags so he will be happy with that time as his running was curtailed. That marks a good return to form so he’s really going to be one to look out for today.
The seventh fastest time went to Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul in the quickest of the Porsche 997s. He needs a good result to keep himself in the championship race and will be well placed to push, as he will start from the outside of the third row.
Both factory Toyotas squeezed into the top ten with Khun Nattavude Charoensukhawatana (1:02.968) in seventh and Khun Nattapong Horthongkum in tenth (1:04.069). The red and white cars are well placed to make up plenty of ground tomorrow; Khun Nattavude is scheduled to start from P6. Also safely into the race is the third entry of Khun Manat Kulapalanont.
Sandwiched by the two Toyotas is Khun Bhurit Bhirombhakdi who was enjoying his best qualifying run to date on his TSS debut year. He’s been out practicing at Bira Circuit recently with his new Ferrari and the work is paying off.
B-Quik Racing didn’t have a lot of luck in qualifying and both cars will start just outside the top ten. The #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup of Khun Henk J. Kiks saw former F1 driver Khun Alex Yoong jump behind the wheel earlier in the week and the team is setting up a new suspension for the car while Khun Daniel Bilski was getting to grips with Bira for the first time in the #27 Porsche and had a some car issues during practice.
Both B-Quik Racing drivers’ will be looking for a strong race pace and to work their way up the running order in the 28-lap race while also look out for two more Porsches 997s, the #78 of Khun Suttiluck Buncharoen and the #60 of Khun Shuipang Kanjanapas, as they both work their pace up in the race.
Qualifying: Super Car Class 3-GTC
When the red flag hit qualifying session shook out it was the Krating Daeng Racing Team that had locked out the front row of the grid for this afternoon’s first Class 3-GTC race of the weekend. Khun Grant Supaphong laid down a 1:07.265 in the #10 Mitsubishi Evo X and no one could match that, his closest rival in the end was his teammate Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen but the ‘drift’ star was a 1.325 seconds back.
The ‘Evo’ is fast but often fragile, it’s always blisteringly powerful over a flying lap in qualifying, lasting the race though can be a very different story, and in fact after Thursday’s free practice it required an overnight piston change. So his rivals will be waiting to see what happens. However Khun Grant has two wins so far this year and he’s also taken this car to victory here. If it rains then that will play right into his hands thanks to the four-wheel-drive system and the slower running speed that will help the car’s cooling issues.
There was a long red flag period 9 minutes into the session when the Ginetta G55 of Khun Naputt Assakul hit the wall on the start-finish straight after a steering rod pulled out and left him as a passenger. Fortunately the driver reported he was okay afterwards although the car sustained damage.
Third fastest time went to Khun Thanapol Thongchua in the Rotary Revolution built Mazda RX-8. After his sensational podiums in the last round this team is making a big step forward with the RX-8 and they certainly are extracting a lot of new pace now. Quick and reliable it shouldn’t be too long before we see the first ever win by ‘rotary’ power in Super Car.
In fact the team is running two cars for the first time this weekend, entering their striking new build RX-7 for regular Class 3-GTC driver Khun Narin Yensuk who has ditched his usual Nissan Skyline R32.
He’s just coming back to the cockpit after a clean break of his arm a couple of months ago and last week got the all clear to race. However it’s a case of bedding into the car for Khun Narin, as he can’t extract the full potential from the machine as yet so expect a real fighting performance when he’s fully fit by the time Bangsaen comes around. Even so he lines up P7 on the grid today and will be eyeing up the podium.
Alongside Khun Thanapol on Row 2 will be the sole Subaru in the race as Khun Kraingkrai Woraratanatham in the A-Motorsport run BRZ was forced to scratch his entry at the last minute due to other commitments. That leaves the Impreza of Khun Pinet Piyaoui to fly the flag and he put a lot of teething problems with the car behind him to set the fourth fastest time in Class 2-GTC and put himself firmly in the chase for a podium finish, so long as the car is reliable.
Khun Suttipong Smittachartch set the fifth fastest qualifying time in the factory run #19 Toyota 86 while two drivers absent yesterday due to other commitments were championship leader Khun Sontaya Kunplome and TT Motorsport’s Khun Chayut Yangpichit. Both will start from the 22-lap race from the back of the grid this afternoon.
Qualifying: Super 2000
Last weekend he made his anticipated single-seater racing debut at Belgium’s legendary Spa-Francorchamps Circuit and promptly made the European F3 fraternity sit up and take notice of this slight Thai youngster.
Yesterday Khun Kantadhee Kusiri was on much more familiar turf, Bira Circuit, behind the wheel of his Super 2000 Toyota 86, a brand new car this year that hasn’t served him well at all so far. But that rapid development programme finally paid off as the driver and car hooked it all together superbly.
Despite three red flags that interrupted the smooth flowing of the 30-minute session Khun Kantadhee simply wasn’t fazed and when the session ended 6 minutes early he had pole in the bag with a 1:06.786 best lap and was already making all the headlines for the second consecutive weekend. The 86 has been the weak point so far, the Team Eakie mechanics now have to deliver him a racecar this afternoon that will be good for 22 tough laps of Bira Circuit if he is to convert that stunning pole position into his first ever Super 2000 win.
Pushing his way to the front of the action all season has been Khun Naiyanobh Bhirombhakdi and he continued in the same vein with a 1:06.786 that handily puts him on the outside of the front row, 0.489 seconds off Khun Kantadhee.
The second row will see the championship’s big hitters starting side-by-side, but both will be slowed by ‘success’ ballast. The classification points’ leader Khun Jack Lemvard made the best of the extra weight he has to add to the #44 Vattana Motorsport BMW E90 to post a very respectable time that was just 1.378 seconds off pole. Khun Munkong Sathienthirakul, his most serious rival for the title was almost a second off the BMW’s time and will need to finish ahead of Khun Jack if he is to keep his title hopes alive into the season closer at Bangsaen.
A few hundredths of a second back was Khun Pasarit Phromsombat who leads out Row 3 and that means Khun Jack has both his title rivals right behind him so it’s more than likely to get fraught out there.
The third row is completed by Khun Kittipol who was quick yesterday afternoon and in fact fourth to sixth places are covered by just two tenths of a second. Khun Kittipol is one of the emerging stars of Super 2000, fast and certainly battle hardened now, he’s chasing the upper steps of the podium.
Seventh place went to Khun Ekprawat Petcharak, he’s been improving all year too, while the fourth row will be completed by the highly capable Khun Thanavud Bhirombhakdi. The top ten is wrapped by the quicker of the factory run Toyota Altis entries, the #58 of Taiwanese driver Khun Chen Jian Hong, he was having a better run than of late, and will start alongside the privately run Toyota Altis of Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich who has enjoyed a competitive year and won’t be happy to remain in P10 come the race.
Qualifying: Super Pickup
Pole position went to Khun Aekaluck Nakkerd in the Team Donut D.N.A Exedy Isuzu D-Max after this improving driver nailed down a 1:12.360 best lap, eight tenths of a second quicker than anyone else could manage.
He needed that result too as he’s second in the championship but 18 points adrift of the current leader, Khun Songsak Kornsirisuepsakun, who had an uncharacteristically off session to set only the fifth fastest time, 2.7 seconds adrift of his rival. Khun Aekaluck needs to win the race and have some other drivers finish in between him and Khun Songsak if he is to reignite the title race. By the look of today the ingredients are in place.
Taking the chase to Khun Aekaluck was Khun Jaras Jaengkamolkulchai, the returning former champion setting a quick pace but unable to make it up to the pole, however he will start from the outside of the front row and will be hungry to convert that speed into his first win of the year. Khun Aekaluck isn’t going to have it easy today.
Khun Akasit Kriengkomol leads out Row 2 and also Class B while next to him will be Khun Aekaluck’s teammate, Khun Nuthaporn Namjuk, who impressed again and that means this team has both its trucks on the front two rows of the grid. Khun Nuthaporn is also second in Class B. Khun Songsak and Krating Daeng’s quick truck rookie, Khun Johnny Massoud, who had a great qualifying session to take the top spot in Class C, will make up the third row of the grid.
Qualifying: Super 1500
Super 1500 always throws up a real battle at the front of the pack and with the top three drivers in qualifying covered by less than half a second that look like it isn’t going to change anytime soon – especially as two of those three drivers are locked into a no holds barred fight at the top of the championship points standings.
Just 8 championship points coming into the weekend separate the Ford Fiesta of Khun Kajornsak Na Songkhla and Honda Civic of Khun Nuttapong Lertlumprasertkul and they will line up on the grid this morning for the first race in line astern with the former sitting on pole position and the latter leading out Row 2 after they posted best laps in 1:11.756 and 1:12.245 respectively.
In between them, on the outside of the front row of the grid, will be another top Super 1500 name, Khun Komkrit Lertlumprasertkul, while the second row will be completed by Khun Teerasak Sakphaet who leads out the Class C runners.
The top five in qualifying was completed by Khun U-tain Pongprapas who was also second fastest in Class C while next up in on the timesheets were Khun Isara Limthanetkul and Khun Naratip Kerdchuay, the latter is also third in Class C.
Qualifying: Super Production
Khun Anusorn Asiralertsiri has had a tough year so far, the pre season hot favourite for the Super Production Class C title, he languishes down in ninth place and hasn’t scored any points in the last three races. He was also many people’s tip for overall wins too.
However he started to put that right yesterday by planting the #7 Honda City on pole position with a best lap of 1:13.498, although it was very close, he was just four hundreds of a second faster than Khun Chattraphol Jiemvijid, another driver who is looking for his first overall win of the year. Both these very evenly matched drivers want to win as well as pick up points, for Khun Chattraphol he’s the joint overall championship leader and with his level pegging rival qualifying down in P7 this morning’s 18 lap race will present a great opportunity to try to pull ahead in the points classification.
The third row is led out by Khun Yotsarun Saensuk who won at the last round and will be looking to keep that run up, in fact with the runners up spot in the other race in Buriram that weekend he comes to Bira with the best current form in Super Production – and his quickest time yesterday was just 0.176 seconds away from pole.
The second row will be completed by Khun Poomee Phromatham, the reigning Super Eco champion has had a bit of a tough start to his Super Production graduation but based on that qualifying performance it looks like he might have turned the corner, his best time in the fastest of the new-generation Honda Jazz racers on the entry list was only three tenths away from pole.
Three thousands of a second behind Khun Poomee was Super Production’s newest sensation, Khun Nattanid Leewattanavaragul, who is herself only 0.349 seconds away from pole and will lead out Row 3. The young lady racer made everyone stop and take notice with two blistering drives in Buriram at the end of July and that best lap yesterday proves it was no flash in the pan performance. That also gave her the second fastest time in Class C too.
Completing the third row was Khun Tony Percy who is showing ever-improving form. He has a new engine in his Jazz for this race although it’s still not quite where he wants it to be yet and he’s been hampered by a lack of development time in his new car.
That all said his best time was an impressive 0.454 seconds off pole. It means the top six on the grid are very evenly matched and are in fact covered by less than half a second and that’s going to add up to some explosive Super Production racing this weekend.
Join championship leader Khun Thanasit Bhunyatharanonth is next up and he will need to press forward quickly in today’s race if he wants a high points score while the top ten is completed by Khun Sirisak Manthugumphol, Khun Rungravi Thirakon and Khun Pong Trakulthong. In fact the top-ten was covered by just 1.175 seconds as Super Production really lived up to its name for close action.
Qualifying: Super Eco
Super Eco kicked off the long afternoon of qualifying in humid but dry conditions on a track that was dry and rubbered up after a morning of intensive practice action following heavy overnight rain that had cleaned the surface.
Khun Jakraphan Davee has been making a splash on his Super Eco rookie year and while he hasn’t been threatening the top step of the podium yet he’s banged in three straight third place finishes from the last three races. It looks like he’s about to shift up a gear as he planted the yellow #33 Honda Brio Amaze on pole position with a best lap of 1:18.175. That was six tenths of a second faster than the next best time, clearly he’s got pace this weekend and he could well be difficult to beat when the lights go green at for the first Super Eco race at 0900 this morning, which will kick off two days of intensive race action here.
Alongside Khun Jakraphan on the front row will be Krating Daeng’s Khun Konpichit Toyingcharoen who put in a best lap of 1:18.175. He’s just 5 points adrift of the championship leader who isn’t in action this weekend and that means the opportunity is there to bounce back into the top spot and get some clear air at the front if he can come away from Bira with two high scoring results.
Khun Petch Sathawarawong, who was just a few hundredths of a second away from making a front row start, will lead out Row 2 this morning. Alongside he will have the irrepressible Khun Naruchit Kiatmaneesri, who has the Team Donut Honda Brio much more sorted this time out after upgrades made to the engine and the ECU prior to the last round didn’t quite get sorted out in time. Khun Naruchit will be looking to get into the front running action and his first Super Eco win doesn’t look to be too far away. He was just one tenth of a second away from P3.
Row 3 of the grid will be led out by the fast improving Khun Paveen Dangsa-nga who will have Khun Nuttapon Kaewkanjanasat alongside. Seventh fastest was to Khun Kmik Karnasuta, an unusually low position for the quick youngster so expect him to be fighting his way towards the front this morning.