It’s finally here. The biggest, most glamorous and explosive action packed motorsport event in Thailand this year will unfold over the next five days. Free practice for the 8th Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival starts at 0900 this morning and the programme winds up through qualifying tomorrow and the ‘Endurance’ race on Friday before culminating in two frenetic days of headlining races across Saturday and Sunday.
More spectators will visit Bangsaen than any other Thai motorsport event this year, even more will watch on TV and yet more will watch Live Streaming over the Internet. Now in its eighth edition, the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival will be even bigger this year with new cars, new drivers and new teams as well as more dramatic activities both on and off the track.
And on track it starts off with Super Car Class 1-GT3 where top the Thai stars will go head to head with big international names, all behind the wheel of state-of-the-art FIA GT3 racecars from Toyota, Lamborghini, Porsche and Chevrolet.
In Super Car Class 2-GTM it’s exactly the same story and the newest ‘Super Car’ category, Class 3-GTC, is already busy earning its reputation and assuring its place in the future programme. The best bumper to bumper action in Thailand can always be found in Super 2000 while Super Pickup sees the utilitarian beasts of burden unleashed in dramatic race action on the streets of Bangsaen.
Bangsaen Preview: Super Car Class 1-GT3
The ‘New’ Era has promised to raise the game of Thai motorsport at the very top – and it really has. The quality cannot be disputed as factory-built cars from East and West go head to head for glory. And honours are pretty evenly spread out so far this year as Toyota and Lamborghini have two wins apiece while Porsche and Chevrolet have one each, the mix is just about right. Any of these prestige brand names could be a winner this weekend.
In picking winner, the only place to start is with Reiter Vattana Motorsport. It’s unquestionably been this team’s golden year. They thought big, turned up big and delivered the goods. It started with a debut win for the brutal Chevrolet Camaro GT3 in the hands of Khun Tomáš Enge back in Sepang in the very first race of the year and ramped up with a double win at Bira for the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 FL2 of Khun Chonsawat Asavahame. The Teams’ title has long since been put to bed by the boys from Reiter Vattana and the Drivers’ title will be decided in Bangsaen between its two lead drivers.
In reality it should be a formality for Khun Chonsawat to wrap up the title but Khun Tomas will be keen to prove that the big Camaro can work on this street circuit and the remodeled hairpin will probably play into his hands more than any other driver.
Reiter Vattana Motorsport has already had a very busy start to the week as a new engine for Khun Umar A. Rahman’s Gallardo GT3 FL2 only arrived in Bangkok on Monday meaning quick work was needed to get the ready for the first track action yesterday. Khun Umar in fact debuted in Class 1-GT3 in Buriram and engine problems during practice meant he swapped down to an old unit for the race, his regular engine being quickly shipped back to Reiter Engineering’s headquarters in Germany for rebuilding.
It arrived back here in the nick of time and Khun Umar was able to enjoy the full power of the Gallardo GT3 around Bangsaen for the first time during yesterday’s two sessions. He says it’s a big step up from the Gallardo Super Trofeo he raced here last year. “Of course it’s a lot better, it’s a very good car,” said Khun Umar after he finished testing yesterday.
Getting the best out of the potent Gallardo GT3 on these streets involves a steep learning curve for Khun Umar and he’s chipping steadily away at his lap times. “The first stints are just about testing the car and seeing the track,” he continued last night. “But overall I would say it’s a very good car to drive and I’ve been testing a few braking points, trying to get in more speed in the corners so for the whole of today I’m just doing the homework basically to interface the ability of the car and the street circuit.”
The Singha AAS Porsche team will be back for the first time since Sepang and outgoing Class 1-GT3 champion Khun Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak and team mate Khun Piti Bhirombhakdi have the best recent form on these streets as they dominated the main races last year with the former driver grabbing both wins and it all wrapped up with an impressive 1-2 finish in the second race.
The well-proven Porsche 997 GT3-R has to start amongst favourites on paper. Khun Vutthikorn might be relinquishing his crown this weekend, an unrivaled sixth super car title, but he doesn’t hanker after second places and he was straight into track action as soon as the lights went green yesterday. However it all went horribly wrong for him as a front-end incident in the morning session was followed by an even bigger thump in the afternoon. That left his car with major damage and there is a huge question mark as to whether ‘champ’ will appear on the grid this weekend. If he doesn’t then Khun Piti will be well positioned to step into the space and this driver was very unlucky not to win here last year. He’s clearly a lot more than capable of delivering a win this weekend though.
Then there is Toyota. The factory team’s new weapon has been talked about for a long time. The new car, dubbed the M101-86 and built by leading Japanese racecar constructor Dome with the next-generation Super GT regulations in mind, has been a two-year long project – but it’s already been well worth the wait. On its TSS debut, at Buriram last month, it electrified the field and, after a monster no holds barred scrap with Khun Tomas, it won its debut race. That was followed up by another victory in the second race.
The score sheet for the new Toyota thus stands at two races and two wins – so will anyone be able to stop it winning in Bangsaen? Super GT star Khun Kazuya Oshima drove the car to the two victories in Buriram and he’s back behind the wheel this week. He also knows Bangsaen inside out having driven here before in the 6-hour ‘Endurance’ race so he’s already banged in a lot of laps of the 3.7 km circuit. “It’s a very difficult track but I know it now,” he says.
But Khun Kazuya is very cautious and believes that the M101-86’s current characteristics aren’t playing into his hands. “This track is no good for this car because there are a lot of slow corners and long straights and this car has not so much power,” the Japanese driver said yesterday after his first track runs here in the car. “We have only very hard tyres and this track is very slippery and we have no grip. [For today] maybe I can get softer tyres and maybe I can get a bit better.” He also adds that the car hasn’t seen any further development during the month since Buriram. “We just change the steering angles for the hairpin,” he adds. With engineers from Dome as well as from GT Association, the Super GT organising body that is the guiding light behind the new ‘Mother Chassis’ programme, in Bangsaen setup shouldn’t be a problem. Reliability had been expected to be the brand new car’s bugbear on its debut but it ran faultlessly throughout both races in Buriram so there is no reason to believe it will hit mechanical problems this week.
There is another Lamborghini to look out for, the True Visions sponsored example of Khun Bobby Buncharoen. He’s been picking up speed with every race, but suffered back luck in Buriram and will want to end the year on a high note. It all means that the showdown between Lamborghini, Porsche, Chevrolet and Toyota this week is gong to be sensational.
Bangsaen Preview: Super Car Class 2-GTM
It’s also going to be a real nail biter in Class 2-GTM particularly as the leading duo in the championship classification, Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi and Khun Nattavude Charoensukhawatana, are separated by just a single point, while the third placed driver, Khun Aekarat Discharoen, is only 4 points off the top. It’s tighter than ever before and Bangsaen always chucks the form book upside down.
For the championship to be so agonisingly close going into the final two races of the year is a real thumbs up for the Class 2-GTM concept which has all year delivered exactly what it promised, some of the most competitive race action ever seen in Thai motorsport. This will be a year to remember, and it’s not even over yet, there is an explosive finale to play out over the next five days.
Khun Voravud goes into Bangsaen having led the championship standings all year. He kicked off with a double win in Sepang but his lead has been whittled down to just 1 point as Khun Nattavude has fought his way back into the title fight.
A retirement in Buriram proved very costly to Khun Voravud but this is a driver who has improved with every race, is calm, collected and thoughtful, knows how to win and has a very strong and experienced team behind him. The weakest link all year has been the car, Ferrari’s 458 Challenge isn’t the best all round package in action in Class 2-GTM but Khun Voravud knows exactly how to extract the max and this will be the third year he’s driven the car here.
And Singha Motorsport Team Thailand isn’t messing around one bit this week – they really want to win. They were the first team to get their garage completed in the paddock on Monday and the mechanics had the car set up and just about ready to go by the time it went dark in the evening.
Race Engineer Khun Gianluca Soli is confident that they should be on the pace this week. He pointed out that “Voravud was fast here last year”. The Italian reckons they can now build on that pace and they have all the data from last time on these streets to move forward from. As ever though he points out that a street race with its always-unforgiving nature can change the game at any point, although that can work both ways. Certainly Khun Voravud looked smooth and quick yesterday and this driver-car package looks like it’s going to be effective here.
Khun Nattavude is the defending champion and he doesn’t want to see the crown slip away. He knows exactly how to win titles and the factory-run Toyota 86 proved to be well suited here last year – it was the class of the field and its power paid off well down the long main straight. Reliability is always a big question mark and in Buriram a DNF in the second race was somewhat cancelled out after Khun Voravud also retired.
It’s going to a straight head-to-head fight. It’s the season finale so there is no opportunity to consolidate, whoever finishes in front of the other will win the title. But there are now three drivers in the picture as that also applies to Khun Aekarat – the maths is simple, if he beats his rivals to the checkered flags on both days then he’s the champ. Fast consistent, the Porsche driver is always around at the end to nab points. He’s also very experienced, knows Bangsaen well and was right on the pace here last year. After his win in Buriram, Khun Aekarat is going to be looking to carry that form over and make a late charge at the title.
Behind them come three more drivers looking to grab fourth in the championship and they are separated by just 8 points. Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul is first up, he has 189 points and it’s been a truly stunning Super Car debut year for the ‘drift’ star. He goes into Bangsaen with his white Porsche 997 GT3 Cup shod with Hoosier rubber for the second event in succession; the tyre brand making its TSS debut in Buriram.
He’s had a really impressive year and although he’s been a longtime competitor in the ‘sideways’ sport, Khun Sarun has sporadically contested circuit races. Interestingly, he raced in the first-ever Bangsaen event eight years ago. Driving a BMW E30 in the Euro Classic race, he won, and on a wet track. As a top drifter Khun Sarun is also well used to working in the very close confines of unforgiving concrete barriers and he admitted in the paddock yesterday to preferring this racing scenario to the wide and open power straights of Buriram.
Once again Japanese superstar Khun Keita Sawa, who jumped in the car during the free sessions yesterday to help with setup, is assisting Khun Sarun. Khun Keita’s methodical and analytical input has clearly benefited Khun Sarun this year. Hoosier has also brought a new compound for Khun Sarun to use this weekend, which aims to offer more grip. A lot of ingredients are slotting into place. For the new arrival in Super Car it’s quickly switched from being a case of ‘will he make the podium?’ to ‘what step will he occupy?’ so maybe we will see a surprise this weekend. And also look out for the Porsche of Khun Kantasak Kusiri, he’s a star of the future in the making and after a tough debut season in Super Car it all came right in Buriram’s final race last month where he was runner up, that sets him up to end the year in Bangsaen on a strong note.
Khun Craig Corliss is on 185 points and will be eyeing up a podium for the big Holden Commodore VE which the New Zealander has proved can work really well around this street circuit while the widened mountain hairpin will help his efforts. And just like in Buriram he will have useful input from an engineer sent by the car’s builder in Australia, Triple Eight Engineering.
The second Toyota Team Thailand-entered Toyota 86 of Khun Nattapong Horthongkum is on 181 points but he will start the first race from the back of the grid thanks to an infringement in Buriram. However car and driver are clearly capable of winning here so he will be looking to quickly climb up the order in the first race and bounce back with a big score in Sunday’s final race and if his two rivals for fourth spot drop points he could easily move up a position or two in the final classification.
In the Teams’ championship the advantage swung to Singha A Motorsport AAS UBB Kiwi Racing Yokohama in Buriram, they now have 329 points. But Toyota Team Thailand, which went into the North East race in an almost dead heat with its rivals, has 314 points. So the gap is too close to call and both teams will need to be getting all their cars into high points scoring positions – not just to bag points but also to knock points off away their rival.
The battle for third spot is also equally tight as just two points split NSports-Yokohama-Project Mu Team Thailand and Singha Motorsport Team Thailand and that fight could go either way. The former team has two cars with Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich joining Khun Traitanit Chimtawan for the second event in a row, while the latter has just a single entry, but the Ferrari certainly has had the reliability advantage over the Nissan GT-Rs so far this year.
Then there are the ‘wild cards’ in the entry and more than likely they will come from the B-Quik garage. After an unrewarding first half of the year with his potent new Audi R8 LMS Cup, everything came together in Buriram and Khun Henk J. Kiks ran the fastest race pace seen in Class 2-GTM, posting the best race laps. He’s not really a wild card as such, everyone in the TSS paddock knows that he’s got speed coupled to a racing ‘brain’, but Khun Henk has had a tough couple of years. Clearly he’s getting back to his best now and that simply means winning speed.
Circumstances dictated that Khun Henk didn’t end up with a win in Buriram, but it means he comes into Bangsaen with some decent form in tow, although he was playing that down after the free sessions yesterday where he was one of many drivers to clout a wall. Rather, on his first visit to Bangsaen with the Audi, he was bedding in with the car and the streets.
“I was happy I did my ice driving training in Finland, it was slippery like anything,” he said with a laugh after the first session yesterday, another driver to be very wary of the first day running conditions. “You go out the first time in Bangsaen every time and you feel just afraid, you have to build it up.”
It’s a big change of car characteristics swapping from a Porsche to an Audi and the Dutchman reckoned there are plus points to both machines on a street track. “First impressions are that on the brakes the Audi is stronger but the Porsche seems to ride a bit better on the bumps but that’s also a question of adjustment, we will set it up a bit better. Braking is important as we have long straights, which are hard braking at the end, so it should benefit a bit. The handling is good and once the track rubbers in we should be on the sweet spot. The times are good my time today in the slippery first practice was equal to my fastest time in the 997 last year.”
And then there is the ‘pro’ lurking in the B-Quik pit, Khun Darryl O’Young. He looked immediately fast during the free sessions yesterday and he got up to speed very quickly. His ‘home’ track is Macau and he’s raced around Monaco, Valencia, Singapore and many other top street circuits worldwide and professes to love this type of track – so what was his first opinion of Bangsaen? “I think the circuit’s fantastic, especially the bottom bit down on the beach, the whole section is really challenging, the combination of the bumps and the speed, everything feels like a proper street circuit,” he enthused.
“Nowadays a lot of new street circuits are very wide and standard, this one feels a lot more like a traditional street circuit like Macau or Monaco, the feeling is fantastic,” he continued. “I’m just getting adapted to it, getting to learn it, it took a little bit of time but a lot of fun.”
And another new face. Last night Innovation Motorsport’s new Mazda RX-8 arrived in the Bangsaen paddock. It’s come direct from Macau; the car cleared customs in Laem Chabang the day before yesterday and went straight the team’s raceshop where a new transmission, which came direct from England, was quickly fitted and the car prepared. This is really a ‘toe dip’ exercise ahead of next year and the team hope to see exactly what they will have to do to make it a competitive proposition in Class 2-GTM. Khun Michael Freeman will drive the car in Buriram. It will in fact be the second RX-8 in the category this weekend as Khun Pete Thongchua will drive his usual green and black RZ Racing entry.
Bangsaen Preview: Super Car Class 3-GTC
The newest category in the TSS programme was added to bring a new dimension to Super Car. It’s certainly done that. Last year we set a new standard by introducing Super Eco, an affordable and logical path into motorsport.
This year we introduced Class 3-GTC, a new step onto the Super Car ladder and it’s proving very popular already. This is just the third event after the first was held at Bira in July and the second at Buriram last month, but it’s growing fast and the mix is perfect, new names are going up against experienced hands and there is real racecar diversity. It might be steady growing so the grids have to start from scratch, but the quality is oozing out and the action is already endearing Class 3-GTC to the fans.
There has been a good mix of winners so far too and picking the victors this weekend isn’t a straightforward task. Khun Grant Supaphong looks to be heading towards the title and his powerful Mitsubishi Evo X already has two wins and although he was plagued with problems in Buriram he still emerged with his championship lead intact.
In classification terms Khun Grant has 137 points after collecting registered points equivalent to two wins a second and a third from the four races so far which has given him a 17-point cushion at the top. His only remaining rival is Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen who has one maximum score and two seconds to his name, but a DNF is the other race has proved very costly to his title hopes.
The Drivers’ title is certainly Khun Grant’s to lose now and he should be able to wrap it up in either the first or the second race this weekend. Khun Grant and Khun Daychapon both drive for Krating Daeng Racing Team by NSports and thanks to their high scoring efforts Teams’ honours have already been sealed coming into Bangsaen.
The prestige of winning in Bangsaen will drive the competitors to new heights and there are two red sportscars on the entry list that will be strong contenders for P1 – the Italian Ferrari 430 Challenge of Khun Akihiro Asai and the British Ginetta G55 of Khun Naputt Assakul.
The former claimed his first win of the year in Buriram and has always looked capable of winning, despite bad luck and car troubles costing him results. However Khun Akihiro will want to win this weekend and the Japanese driver has very good form at Bangsaen – he wrapped up the Super Car N/A title on these streets three years ago. He will also be hoping to edge Vattana Motorsport into second place in the final Teams’ standings, currently they are third overall, just four points off second-placed KS Racing.
Khun Naputt meanwhile debuted the pretty little Ginetta in Class 3-GTC in Buriram last month after first driving the car at Sepang during the opening round of last season.
So he was a little bit rusty in the car which had stood idle for well over a year – but that didn’t seem to matter and Khun Naputt was quick out of the box, nabbing pole and leading, albeit briefly. He should be fast in the car this weekend and has to be one of the contenders for victory.
Two highly experienced drivers are also racing in Class 3-GTC this year, Khun Sontaya Kunplome, is behind the wheel of his regular Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, and Toyota Team Thailand Team Manager Khun Suttipong Smittachartch will race the newly built Toyota 86 he debuted in Buriram for a second time. The duo are both good to make the podium steps and they tend to be locked together in battle with each other whenever they venture onto track.
Bangsaen Preview: Super 2000
Khun Tin Sritrai is well on course to successfully defend his title this weekend. He has a 30-point advantage in the overall standings and that means if he turns up on the grid and finishes no higher than sixth place in each race, he will keep hold of the prestigious ‘touring car’ crown for another year. It should be something of a formality, but if he has a repeat of the second round this year at Bira where he picked up just two race points – one from each race – then the title could slip away.
It seems unlikely though and the main focus is going to be on the fight for the runner up spot. It couldn’t be any tighter either – factory Toyota star and former Super 2000 champion Khun Manat Kulapalanont has enjoyed a very consistent season, bagging points in every single race while Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem has been blisteringly quick but has suffered mechanical issues. The pair are tied together on 184 points each, while hovering just adrift of them is Khun Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya (178 points), who has been left to rue the loss of his race points in Sepang, and youngster Khun Kantadhee Kusiri (174 points) who has stepped up to Super 2000 this season in a Toyota Altezza but has suffered a lot of engine problems.
And Khun Kittipol’s Singha Motorsport Team Thailand teammate Khun Thamrong Mahadumrongkul cant be ruled out of the battle for the runners up spot, he’s been plagued with mechanical issues over the last two rounds but still has 169 points. There was a slower start for Khun Kittipol in yesterday’s practice sessions though as overheating issues that had arisen in Buriram came back to haunt him in the blistering afternoon heat here and the team stripped down the top end of the engine last night looking for the problem.
The link these five drivers chasing the runners up spot have is that they are all real ‘street fighters’; rarely do they come into Parc Ferme at the end of a race without scratches and dislodged bodywork. Their ‘street fighting’ skills will be really put to the test this weekend, as – literally – they will fight it out for supremacy around the village of Bangsaen. Certainly for the thousands of fans that turn up here each year Super 2000 never disappoints and it seems we are in for a real thrilling climax to the season.
Look out also for the two Kuroki Racing Honda DC5s of Khun Hideharu Kuroki and Khun Yoshiaki Inoue. The Japanese team joined the series at Bira and also took part in Buriram; they certainly made an instant impression. Khun Hideharu was immediately at the front of the pack and he now has one win, one runners up spot and a third place from the four races he’s contested while his team mate Khun Yoshiaki has worked up to the pace and comes into this week with a hard fought fourth place in the last race as his best result to date. Both of these Japanese drivers know the Bangsaen as they have raced their DC5s previously here in TCSA so they should be quick from the off.
Then there is a full ‘pro’ in the Super 2000 mix. Khun Carlo Van Dam will be back in action in the Singha Motorsport Team Thailand Civic FD. He’s been blisteringly fast in the races he has contested so far in Super 2000 but has suffered badly from a string of mechanical issues. The Dutchman professes to love street circuits and last month drove AAI’s fearsome Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 in the Macau GT Cup so he’s well warmed up and ready for Bangsaen. He has a runners up finish at Bira in the Civic FD to his name already but will be looking to bag his first TSS win. He had a few problems yesterday though, an errant suspension bracket and braking issues saw his team working late last night to have the car ready for today.
Within Super 2000 there is arguably an even more brutal fight that the one for overall honours – and it comes in Class B as Khun Pitsanu (216), Khun Kittipol (208) and Khun Thamrong (202) could each take the title. While Honda’s ubiquitous Civic sedan has slipped away from the overall reckoning it still rules the roost in Class B as all three of these racing heroes drive FDs and are very closely matched. Khun Pitsanu has led the class all year long but reliability issues have cost him valuable points on several occasions. His team introduced engine upgrades for the last round in Buriram and there were teething problems but he reckons they are sorted now. If Khun Pitsanu has a trouble free weekend he should wrap up the title.
Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport team mates, Khun Kittipol and Khun Thamrong are turning into the double act in the paddock, when they aren’t locked together fighting each other, something that seems to have been a constant since their childhoods, they will be giving Khun Pitsanu a tough time – and a street circuit is a great leveler so it’s not all over yet, certainly the fans will be in for a treat from these three popular ‘name’ drivers.
Fourth place in Class B is held by Khun Paritat Bulbon (190 points) in the turbodiesel-powered VW Golf Mk V. He’s a canny driver certainly and has proved very consistent this year, picking up points in every race so far; he knows how to get the best from a car. The unique characteristics of the Golf (the only diesel powered racecar in TSS outside of Super Pickup) didn’t suit Buriram last time out but expect him to do much better this weekend as this street circuit should allow him to show his hand much better.
Also look out for the other two factory Toyotas, the new-generation Altis machines of Khun Chen Jian Hong and Khun Artit Ruengsomboom. The former has had a tough year as the new model has been developed race by race, but the Taiwanese driver is still fifth in Class B with 165 points. Khun Artit meanwhile runs in Class C and he’s romped to the title – two wins and three second places from the six races so far leaves him well out in front. But he’s not been content with just chasing Class C honours in a machine specified for this duty, he’s mixed it up much higher up the order and impressed seasoned watchers.
Khun Artit, who is well grounded in street racing thanks to his exploits in Toyota’s ‘One Make’ series; clearly has a lot of talent to impose on Super 2000 in the future so expect him to be pushing his way up the order this weekend. He did however thump the barriers yesterday on the run down from the mountain section, bringing out the red flags. The Toyota mechanics were able to fix the Altis last night and he’s good to go.
In the Teams’ championship there is still all to play for. Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport has the upper had this weekend and arrives here with 266 points having opened a small gap out at the top in Buriram, while the other contender for the title, Toyota Team Thailand, has 253 points. Meanwhile, Speedbuster Ducati Chiang Mai has 219 points and will be looking to consolidate third place in the rankings. In Class B Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport has already romped away with the title while in Class C Toyota Team Thailand has a healthy advantage at the top of the classification and should wrap up the crown this weekend.
Super Pickup
There has been only one name in truck racing this year, Khun Pete Thongchua, and that’s very unlikely to change this week. The Mazda driver has crushed the opposition all year; five straightforward wins from six races (the other race saw him retire with brake issues while he was leading).
That scintillating form has delivered him his third consecutive Super Pickup title, another record as no one has ever won three on the trot before. In truth it’s been relatively easy for Khun Pete, he’s had no opposition and has been content to eke out a lead and then preserve the yellow Mazda BT-50 for its next outing.
Bangsaen though is no respecter of form, the challenging streets have many times before knocked down big reputations a notch or two, so whether Khun Pete is able to showboat his way to another two wins – or whether he finally gets some serious opposition – still remains to be seen. Maybe his biggest challenger this weekend will turn out to be concrete and steel.
There isn’t any shortage of talent in Super Pickup either and while Khun Pete has already claimed the overall title the prestige of a Bangsaen winners’ trophy with its iconic scroll will drive his rivals to dig deeper than ever before.
Aside from the kudos of winning on the streets of Bangsaen, there is a big fight brewing for the runners up spot where no less three drivers are separated by just 3 points: Khun Chumnan Onsri is on 58 points, Khun Waris Onyarab is on 57 points and Khun Phisit Netdechathanasit is on 55 points.
Khun Chumnan has scored consistently to hold the runners up spot all year, but three straight seconds for the Isuzu of Khun Waris in Buriram has closed the gap up to just 1 point. Khun Pete’s Parker-Innovation Motorsport team mate Khun Phisit meanwhile is also in the reckoning and in Buriram he swapped to the Mazda that Khun Michael Freeman drove last year and that gave him an immediate lift in pace so he’s got to be a strong contender. All three drivers could bag the second spot and it’s impossible to split them apart. And don’t count out Team Donut’s Khun Nuthaporn Namjuk; he’s just 8 points adrift of second spot and always capable of springing a surprise. He got his customary Bangsaen ‘bump’ well out of the way early on in yesterday’s free practice sessions and the Toyota Hilux Vigo is looking its usual patched up self.
In Class B there will be a three way fight for the title and the advantage goes to Khun Waris thanks to his three class wins in Buriram which means he’s overhauled Khun Phisit; the gap is 6 points while just 1 point off the Mazda driver is Khun Nuthaporn. It’s just as close in Class C as the difference between the top two is also 6 points, Khun Nipon Khtsee holds the advantage but thanks to two maximum points scores and a third place in Buriram, Khun Aekaluck has hauled himself into contention for the crown and is the in form driver of the class. With titles and pride at stake expect the truck action to be as close and dramatic as usual in Bangsaen.