Over the last couple of days Thailand Super Series (TSS) has been setting up for the first time ever in Buriram and the stage is now all set for Race 5 & 6 of the season to get underway; they will be contested over the brand new purpose built FIA standard racetrack.
From the big beasts of Super Car Class 1-GT3 all the way down the bumper programme to the ‘entry level’ Super Eco category the starting lists are big on quality. With the championship standings being nail bitingly close across almost every class, explosive no holds barred racing is assured this coming weekend.
Thailand’s top name drivers will be in action and these fan favourites will face the ever-growing influx of international pilots. There are yet more racecars debuting this weekend and on the pitwall there are even more professional race engineers in support. It makes for the perfect mix. Toyota will blood its striking new M101-86 in Super Car Class 1-GT3, bringing Thailand’s biggest selling automotive brand to the top racing flight once again. Meanwhile, in Super Car Class 3-GTC the tiny British sportscar marque Ginetta will take to a Thai racetrack for the first time ever.
After the season opener in Sepang and then the previous round at the historic ‘home’ of Thai motorsport, Bira Circuit, this weekend takes TSS to the brand new racetrack in Buriram and it promises to be the most glamourous, exciting and important date on the racing calendar so far this year. It’s also the perfect way to ‘warm up’ for the biggest annual motorsport event in Thailand, the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival, which is now less than a month and a half away.
Super Car Class 1-GT3
The largest team in Thai motorsport is writing the script in the top tier this year. Reiter Vattana Motorsport has an expansive garage stocked with the best racecars, slick levels of preparation and a line up of superstar drivers – the main question this weekend is, can anyone take the battle to them?
Either way there will be no shortage of excitement when the GT3 monsters grunt onto the grid. Vattana’s superstars don’t come much bigger than Khun Tomáš Enge who will join the fray once again in the dramatic Chevrolet Camaro GT3 and Khun Chonsawat Asavahame who will lead out the Lamborghini gaggle in his just-one-event-old Gallardo GT3 FL2.
The Camaro is looking for its first win on Thai soil (albeit not its first in TSS as it won at Sepang in May). Khun Tomáš flew into Bangkok on Monday direct from Spain where the Czech had delivered the Camaro its biggest win to date, victory in the final round of the International GT Open series at Barcelona just the day before. Yesterday the former F1 driver was out on the Buriram track shaking down the clutch of Lamborghinis and setting them up for the particular demands of this circuit.
These drivers’ lock out the top two spots in the championship points standings arriving at Buriram and that will require strategy to come into the team’s thinking. Khun Tomáš is on 165 points thanks to one win and three seconds from the four races so far while just 5 points behind comes team leader Khun Chonsawat who bounced into the fight thanks to his double win last time out to add to the two fourths he picked up in Sepang. It’s really neck-and-neck.
In third place in the standings comes the True Visions Bobby Hunter Nitto Team Lamborghini of Khun Bobby Buncharoen but in reality it’s going to be a straight fight for the title between Khun Tomáš and Khun Chonsawat. In the Teams’ championship Reiter Vattana Motorsport’s strength in numbers has already put the title out of reach.
Reiter Vattana Motorsport will have two further Gallardos for the fans to look out for this weekend. The late in the day entry lodged for Khun Jack Lemvard is quite sensational news and if he’s let off the leash then sparks are certain to fly. He was out of motorsport for a year but his much awaited return to TSS at the last round came with his usual trademark style, he rocked up in Super 2000 and won both races. Now he steps into the Gallardo GT3 FL2 that was raced by Khun Sanchai Engtrakul at Bira Circuit so expect fireworks. Certainly in qualifying it’s going to be exciting to see what times these drivers can pull out.
The team will wrap up its entry up with Khun Umar A. Rahman who is set to kick off his Super Car Class 1-GT3 career after a rapid rise through the ranks. He will drive a fourth Vattana-prepared Gallardo GT3 FL2 on the entry list and while he will be looking to bed into his new racecar, the most powerful machine he’s driven in his career so far, it’s also a very capable beast, being the machine that Khun Chonsawat raced in TSS in 2013 and at this year’s season opener in Sepang. So he should be competitive.
He’s also had a recent chance to acclimatise himself with the car on the new track. “I was really testing the car and the new circuit,” Khun Umar said after his day at Buriram. “Trying to get as much data as possible during the three practice sessions. My car suited the track pretty well with the fast turns and of course it took me few laps to really understand the track.”
There are two more Gallardos on the entry list. The True Visions entry of Khun Bobby Buncharoen has grown more and more into a frontline contender. Now in his second year with the car, which has been updated to ‘FL2’ specification, Khun Bobby has been grinding out podium results this year and should be right in the middle of the battle for honours.
Khun Indharasak Techaterasiri who skipped the last round will make a welcome return. He started the season in Sepang with a McLaren and he’s waiting for delivery of a new car so in the meantime he will be piloting an older Gallardo LP520 that was most recently seen at Bangsaen last year. It’s really a bed warming exercise for Khun Indharasak as the cars won’t be competitive in Class 1-GT3 but he should pick up points and it’s always fast so expect him to be ready to pounce on the podium if there are retirements.
The Porsche brand will be capably represented by one of the biggest star names in Thai motorsport, 
Khun ‘Kiki’ Sak Nana. He debuted behind the wheel of a brand new 997 GT3-R at Bira Circuit and made rapid progress with every lap he turned in, resulting in two deserved trips to the podium. Expect to see this driver, a firm favourite with the fans, making further progress this weekend in Buriram and mix it up with the front-runners. He’s another who could well spring a surprise. However Khun Kiki may loose some track time as the car suffered a small rear end fire yesterday during the first day of limited testing in Buriram and the car was shipped back to Bangkok for overnight repairs.
Then there is the brand new Toyota M101-86. A lot has been said in recent weeks about this dramatic new car and clearly it’s a package that will go on to win in Super Car Class 1-GT3 in the future. It’s more a question of when?
At the moment it’s a work in progress, in fact engineers from the car’s builder, Japanese racecar constructor Dome, as well as from GT Association, who have driven the new project, will be in attendance as everyone seeks to learn more and more about the car and continue its development.
Toyota Team Thailand has also drafted in a very capable driver to pilot the new machine this weekend. Khun Kazuya Oshima is a highly experienced Super GT driver, he’s a former GT300 champion in fact and a regular winner in GT500 where he drives for Lexus, so expect him to play his part in unlocking the M101-86’s obvious potential. Clearly the car has pace – this weekend the big question mark will be over reliability.
Super Car Class 2-GTM
Picking a winner in the second Super Car tier for this event isn’t an easy task and it’s unlikely to be anytime before the fall of the checkered flags on Saturday and Sunday afternoon that the winners are known. Crucially, whoever wins could change the shape of the title fight – it’s that close.
Khun Voravud Bhirombhakdi took a double victory in Sepang and set himself up as the driver to beat, but at Bira, with his Ferrari 458 Challenge lugging a full compliment of ‘success ballast’ he was in ‘damage limitation’ mode and two third places were strong results, albeit not what he really wanted. That keeps him on top of the classification, now on 164 points.
However a double victory for Khun Nattavude at Bira more than made up for a torrid time in Sepang (where he claimed a P1 and P10) for the Toyota factory star and that bounced the defending champion straight back into the title fight. He’s now just 11 points adrift of the top. With the Toyota clearly suited to the streets of Bangsaen, this weekend is going to require some big results from Khun Voravud if he’s to maintain his grip at the top. The power sapping straights of Buriram though could play into his favour.
And it doesn’t end there. In joint third place in the standings come Khun Craig Corliss and Khun Aekarat Discharoen. The teammates are on 141 points which puts them 12 adrift of the Toyota and just over a win’s worth of points off the top – so they are still right in the championship hunt.
Khun Craig’s Holden should really suit the Buriram circuit layout and he can be expected to be chasing race wins, arguably not since his previous Ford Falcons brutalised the long straights of the Sa Kaeo temporary airfield track should the big New Zealander have been in such a good position. Khun Aekarat is quick and consistent too and he will be looking to bag a couple of results that will allow him to chip away at the top.
Two more drivers are at least mathematically still in with a shout at the title, the second factory Toyota 86 of Khun Nattapong Horthongkum has 126 points and the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup of Khun Sarun Sereethoranakul is just one point further behind. Khun Nattapong has had a tough start to the season but he habitually makes a strong run in the later races and isn’t quite out of the picture yet while Khun Sarun has made an excellent start to his Super Car career and his current championship position is very impressive already.
The Porsche driver will use Hoosier tyres this weekend, having enjoyed successful test sessions at Bira Circuit and Buriram recently with the new rubber, so that will add an interesting new variable into the Class 2-GTM mix. “Our team [was] quite happy with our new Hoosier racing slick tyres,” Khun Sarun said afterward.
“After testing at Bira and Chang Circuit we found good points and tyre settings, so this is a great potential for our team,” he added. There is an extra face in the garage as Khun Keita Sawa is on hand again to help Khun Sarun prepare. The Japanese professional driver was out on track yesterday in Porsche during the private test sessions working on setup and providing direction for the driver. Khun Keita got to grips with the circuit very quickly and said that he had in fact enjoyed a head start as he’d driven the track in the simulator in Japan before making the trip here.
Also look out for the two Nissan GT-R R35s run by NSports Yokohama Project Mu Team Thailand. The new Japanese racecars shone in Sepang, bagging an impressive debut podium, and the high speed sweeping nature of Buriram should suit them much better than Bira did during the last round, where their weight deficiency was more shown up. If reliability can be achieved expect Khun Traitanit Chimtawan to be on the podium at the very least while there is a change in the second car as Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich takes over the seat of Japan’s Naoya Yamano for this weekend and at Bangsaen.
Khun Jakthong is an experienced driver, in recent seasons he’s raced in Super 2000, so it’s a step up for him. But he has experience racing more powerful cars and while he admits the weekend is all about continuing development he’s certainly a ‘dark horse’ for Class 2-GTM and will be looking to spring a surprise or two. If the GT-Rs, which are showing off further upgrades for this event, can get onto the race pace expect Khun Jakthong to be joining his teammate in making a serious bid for the podium steps.
B-Quik Racing’s two-strong line-up will both be real dark horses. Team leader Khun Henk J. Kiks will be back in the #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup, which raced to a stunning second place in August’s MMER Sepang 12 Hours. Late last week Audi Sport factory engineers arrived at the team’s Nawamin Road workshops to iron out some niggling electrical gremlins that were a legacy of the Sepang endurance race and Khun Henk should make more progress in the car and make up for the setback that saw him miss the last round at Bira Circuit.
He has also grabbed some recent track time at Buriram, but with the R8 out of action he took a step back into the team’s Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, the car that he raced last year to get some laps in – and the new circuit immediately impressed him. “It’s a fantastic facility and a stunning track, much more challenging then it looks on a track map,” said the Dutchman afterwards. “The fast straights are exhilarating and the infield is key to a good lap which makes it a very interesting track [and] the grandstand view is one of the best in the business.”
He also enjoyed getting back behind the wheel of the Porsche, which brought him plenty of past success – including a serious run at the 2012 Super Car N/A Championship which went right down to the wire. “I enjoyed the 911,” he said. “Though it’s a bit more physical work, it’s a blast to drive too.”
However the team’s main focus now is on the new Audi – and Khun Henk reckons it should suit the Buriram track’s characteristics. “The R8 should work well, the aero should help in the fast sweepers, but it seems a balanced track for aero and non aero due to the straight runs,” he said. B-Quik Racing has also revealed that the FOX Sports TV network will attend the event to film a special documentary on the team.
Meanwhile, the #29 Porsche will be in the hands of Super Car regular Khun Thomas Raldorf for a second time this year. The Dane, who in recent years has raced a Subaru Impreza in Super Car, was slated to drive the 997 at Sepang, however an engine issue during qualifying scratched his participation for the weekend and also saw the car unavailable for the Bira round. Khun Thomas will be back in the car this weekend and he’s already had a few runs on the track over the last month in production level machines so has plenty of track knowledge to build on.
There are a couple more Porsche drivers that will be looking to upset the top order and all should be quite well placed to make the podium. Young star driver Khun Kantasak Kusiri has finally had some testing time in the Singha A Motorsport AAS UBB Kiwi Racing Team Porsche 997.
That’s helped him get used to his new car – and for the team to start to develop it. He should have more confidence in the Porsche and a better setup, especially as the testing took place at Buriram. Clearly the driver is fast, so expect a strong showing. He should be well equipped now to pitch for his first Super Car win.
While Lamborghini’s Gallardo will pack the grid in Class 1-GT3 this weekend, in Class 2-GTM there will also be an example of the Italian sportscar. This one is an LP520 and is in the hands of Khun Visarut Chotiwitsavaitkul. He’s been getting to grips with the machine this year but had technical issues in both races at Bira. If he gets a clean run this weekend expect him to be progressing up the order.
The entry wraps up with the Mazda RX-8 of Khun Pete Thongchua. The PTT Performance RZ Yokohama Racing Team is one of the smallest in TSS but they are hard working and developing a brand new car after ‘retiring’ their long running RX-7 last year. It means that progress is steadily heading in the right direction. With the high-speed nature of Buriram in mind they have developed a brand new aero package all-round for the RX-8.
In the Teams’ championship the stakes couldn’t be any higher as Singha A Motorsport AAS UBB Kiwi Racing Yokohama has 202 points and Toyota Team Thailand is on 199 points. Behind them it’s also neck and neck for third place as NSports Yokohama Project Mu Team Thailand has 152 points, just ahead of Singha Motorsport Team Thailand with 150 points.
Super car Class 3-GTC
The newest Super Car category is enjoying steady growth after its launch at Bira Circuit in July. Then Khun Grant Supaphong raced to two clear victories in his Mitsubishi Evo X. He knows the car well, having won with it in Super Car Class 2 last year, but now it has been rerated to fit Class 3 as well as undergoing further upgrades. Khun Grant has 80 points now, 10 clear of his closest rival. It’s not a big margin but if he achieves reliability from the Mitsubishi then he should be able to motor on towards the inaugural title.
Second in the standings is Khun Daychapon Toyingcharoen. The drift star turned his hand to circuit racing last year and won the inaugural Super Eco championship. Now he’s turned to another new category and two runners up positions at Bira Circuit keep him in the title hunt.
Also look out for Khun Akihiro Asai. The Japanese driver had a real tough time of it at Bira Circuit driving a Ferrari 430 Challenge that wasn’t race ready but he showed real flashes of speed and was unlucky not to be on the podium. Khun Akihiro, the 2011 Super Car N/A Champion, is a proven quick driver and if the car is up to the task he should be challenging at the front.
There will be several new debutants this weekend as Class 3 continues to grow and certainly keep an eye on Khun Chayut Yangpichit who will debut a Mitsubishi Evo X to be run by Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport. He’s a proven driver who is stepping up from Super 2000 and should be able to hold his own with the class front-runners.
Toyota Team Thailand Team Manager Khun Suttipong Smittachartch will wheel out the former Super Car title winning Altis once again giving the factory team a presence in all three Super Car categories this weekend. However this is more a case of driver and car stretching their legs, although it should be a combination that is good enough for the podium. Also back in Class 3-GTC will be TSS President Sontaya Kunplome; he’s a highly experienced racing driver and will drive his usual Porsche so expect him to be smooth and quick.
In the Teams’ championship the direction of the title seems to be a formality after just one race as both Khun Grant and Khun Daychapon are entered under the Krating Daeng Team by NSports banner. The team has 150 points after the first round with KS Racing Team second on 64 points.
Super 2000
The defending Super 2000 champion Khun Tin Sritrai had a real torrid time of it during the last round, emerging with just two tenth places to his name after mechanical problems hit his BMW E90 in both races. However his title rivals also dropped points and thanks to his double win in the season opener he emerged from Bira with a 28 point lead at the top.
The Pattaya track is probably the least favourable on the calendar to the German car and so with a good run at Buriram, where the high speed straights and turns will suit Khun Tin’s car much better, he should be able to put himself well on course to retain his 2013 title.
The biggest loser from Bira was really Khun Pitsanu Sirimongkolkasem. The Honda driver has dug deep this year to try take the fight to the much superior BMW and he was in stunning form at the last round; agonisingly though, he dropped out of the lead of the second race and that has most likely cost him any shot at overall honours. However Khun Pitsanu is firmly in command of the Class B standings – and that has been his main target for this season. But this is a skilled and experienced driver who relishes a fight against the odds, so expect him to be hauling the Civic FD round Buriram in his usual trademark style.
While Khun Pitsanu has 136 points to Khun Tin’s 164 points, just behind the Honda driver comes Khun Manat Kulapalanont on 133 points. The factory Toyota pilot is entering his second season in the Toyota 86 and while it can’t yet get on even terms with the BMWs it’s proved consistent and in Khun Manat, the 2012 Super 2000 overall champion, it has a driver that is always in the battle for the highest steps of the podium. He will be looking for two strong results if the Toyota can be made to work well on this new track.
It’s really tight in Super 2000 as second to fourth are in fact covered by just 8 points and so just behind Khun Pitsanu and Khun Manat comes Khun Kantadhee Kusiri, the younger half of the two highly talented racing brothers. But just like Khun Kantasak, he’s destined to go onto big things in the future. Last year he romped to the Super 1500 title with Singha XO Team Eakie and this year he’s remained with the team to drive its Toyota Altezza in Super 2000.
The car is old, and in all probability this is the final year of its racing life, so development has stopped and after a torrid time in Sepang where Khun Kantadhee emerged with just 4 race points, its engine is also somewhat detuned. But at Bira last time the youngster showed exactly what he’s made of and bagged two third places, impressive when one factors in the ageing car and the top class opposition he was facing. Khun Kantadhee is fortunate that he has the faith of Team Owner Khun Anothai Eamlumnow who is guiding his career forward and who sees this year as part of the young driver’s steep learning curve. Team Eakie is building a new Toyota 86 to race next year so this year is all about Khun Kantadhee finding his feet in Super 200 – but even so expect him to be on the podium even if the Altezza proves a little bit breathless around Buriram.
Also at the top of the Class A pack will be Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich. He’s going to be having a busy weekend as he’s racing in Super Car Class 2-GTM for the first time, but he will also be in action in his regular Toyota Altis. The driver is quick and the car has pace, its already bagged a P2 earlier this year, so expect Khun Jakthong to be mixing it up.
Super 2000 is all about non-stop action throughout the pack and that’s earned it the respect and attention of the fans. There are so many drivers to look out for here, but certainly two that have come on a lot further this year are the Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport ‘twins’, Khun Thamrong Mahadumrongkul and Khun Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya. The red, white and black Civic FDs seeming have been locked in battle with each other and everyone else over the four races held so far this year. Expect plenty more of the same this weekend. This pair are going places. Khun Kittipol in fact enjoyed his first laps of the track yesterday during the private testing sessions.
Both these drivers are locked into the Class B battle and this category is the one to stand out in Super 2000 this year – the action has been close and ferocious. While Khun Pitsanu leads the class with 163 points, Khun Thamrong is second (140 points) and Khun Kittipol fourth (126 points). In between the warring duo is Khun Paritat Bulbon (136 points). He’s had a much better season this year in the unusual turbocharged VW Golf and some upgrades are reaping dividends, expect him to be in the Class B action again, he’s got a bit more power under the bonnet this weekend but this track clearly won’t suit the Golf’s engine characteristics so he’s going to have to dig in to get on the podium.
Fifth in Class B is held by Khun Chen Jian Hong (110 points). The factory Toyota driver has debuted the new-generation Altis this season but it’s a development work in progress. Clearly the car has plenty of potential but it needs work to attain reliability. However when the car has been on song this year the Taiwanese driver has been impressive and he should be in the action. The second new factory run Altis is running in Class C in the hands of Khun Arthit Ruengsomboon who is romping away with the title; he has 110 points going into Buriram while his closest rival, Khun Bhisanu Busitarnuntakul, skipped the trip to Sepang and is on 32 points. Khun Bhisanu has had a let change of car, after observing low oil pressure on his Civic he has swapped to a Toyota.
In the Teams’ championship overall standings it’s neck and neck between Toyota Team Thailand (155 points) and Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport (153 points) with Speed Buster Ducati Chiang Mai lurking on 137 points. In Class B Singha Cosmo TT Motorsport has already pulled out a big lead while in Class C its more of the same story, but this time it’s all about Toyota Team Thailand which has amassed more than double the points of its closest rivals.
After joining Super 2000 for the first time at Bira, Kuroki ATP Tein Racing will be back for a second shot at Thailand’s top touring car series in Buriram, once again it’s entering two Honda DC5s. Khun Hideharu Kuroki proved very quick at Bira, in fact he was the only driver to mount a challenge to Khun Jack Lemvard’s BMW E90 which won both of the races, so he has to be counted out as a potential winner. Khun Yoshiaki Inoue will drive the Japanese team’s second DC5 again and provide reliable support.
Finally there’s another potential winner on the entry list – Khun Carlo Van Dam. He’s a top pro, a former
karting world champion and Japanese F3 title winner who has now turned to top-level sportscars. He’s already a fixture in the paddock thanks to his role as an adviser to Singha Motorsport Team Thailand’s Ferrari effort in Super Car Class 2-GTM and at the last round the outfit let him loose in one of its gaggle of Civic FDs.
The Dutchman had a tough time in qualifying and then suffered an early exit in the first race, but he showed exactly why he’s considered an international star name in the second race, battling all the way through the pack to finish runner up – and that on his very first time at Bira. He should be quick as soon as he hits the track, albeit with the limitations of the Civic FD here.
Super Pickup
In the truck category it’s all about Khun Pete Thongchua. He’s not letting anyone else have a turn and with two Drivers’ titles on the trot he’s busy eyeing up a third. No one has ever won three Super Pickup titles consecutively so Khun Pete, always one of the most passionate drivers on the grid, has half a hand already on a piece of racing history.
At Bira in July where the truck season kicked off (Super Pickup doesn’t make the trip to Sepang) Khun Pete didn’t make it a perfect score, he won the first two races but ended up wedged in a gravel bed after brake problems dumped him off the track in the third race. In fact so accustomed has everyone become to Khun Pete winning that the race commentators were busy cracking dry jokes as the actor-turned-racer trudged out of the gravel bed.
However it was most likely a blip on his way to the title and the yellow #17 Parker Innovation Motorsport Mazda BT-50 has 40 points coming into this weekend with Khun Chumnan Onsiri on 32 points thanks to his consistency at Bira as he picked up a second, third and fourth place. Khun Pete’s team mate, Khun Phisit Netdetchathanasit makes it’s a 1-3 in the standing thanks to two runner up spots and a fourth at the Pattaya track.
Meanwhile Khun Awirotn Sirinworachai leads Class B and Khun Nipon Khtsee is astride Class C. In the Teams’ overall championship Parker Innovation Motorsport are the leaders (it’s also chasing a third consecutive truck title) while The Pizza Company MyPay Petronas Racing Team hold onto the top spots in Class B and Class C. However barring any mechanical issues, don’t expect anyone to challenge Khun Pete this weekend.
Super 1500
With a perfect score from two rounds and four races Khun Weerasak Homsuwan (120 points) has put the title out of reach already. Second place is held by Khun Sorasak Saeng-xuto (67 points) while Khun Tony Percy has 55 points. The Englishman is set for a busy weekend as he’s debuting a brand new built Honda Jazz having swapped away from his usual Toyota Vios.
In Class C Khun Sorasak has a decent cushion with 75 points while Khun Vutha Jaisamran (50 points) and Khun Ray McDonald (40 points) are both still in the reckoning. In the Teams’ championship TTS Racing already have the title in the bag thanks to Khun Weerasak’s clean sweep.
Other drivers to look out for include Khun Nuttapong Lertlumprasertkul and Khun Komkrit Lertlumprasertkul – they will both drive Honda EGs entered by Big Thailand Racing Team and can be expected to be at the forefront of the action.
Also joining Super 2000 will be Khun Mark Peter Titheringhton in a Honda DC2. He’s usually a front runner in Thai ‘Retro’ racing and it will be interesting to see him apply his pace to Super 1500. Khun Mark actually enjoyed some early testing laps yesterday as he jumped behind the wheel of B-Quik Racing’s Porsche 997 GT3 Cup in the private test sessions.
Super Production
This popular category has a long time reputation for close fought racing and there’s certainly been no change to the script this year. At the top it’s tight as defending champion Khun Kajornsak Na Songkhla has had his had to work hard to keep one hand on the trophy, he’s now on 99 points, just 3 ahead of his closest challenger Khun Pasarit Phromsombat.
The chasing group isn’t far away either, youngster Khun Thanapol Pruttipong is on 77 points while the Innovation Motorsport Mazda drivers are next up with Australian Khun Michael Freeman (73 points) edging his teammate Khun Pete Thongchua (66 points). The Mazda2s are coming on strong and the team arrives here having enjoyed a productive shakedown test at Bira last week.
A couple of further names in Class A need to be watched out for. Khun Piyalert Boonyakiat in the OMP Vattana Motorsport Honda Jazz is already a winner this year and proving adept in this class, while Khun Anders Majgaard returns to CEA Racing for the first time in 2014. The Dane proved fast last year when he raced for the team in Super Production so expect more of the same of him this weekend.
In Class B it’s also close, here Khun Pasarit (107 points) leads out Khun Thanapol (102 points) while in Class C Singha XO Team Eakie driver’ Khun
Witawin Sondthiraksa (110 points) leads from The Pizza Company’s Khun Paul Kenny (90 points) and TW Pro Racing’s Khun Andrey Snetkov (70 points).
Super Eco
Around 30 cars will line up on the grid for the three Super Eco races but all eyes will be on the blue #22 C-Four Motorsport Honda Brio of Khun Poomee Phromatham. He won all three races at the season opener at Bira and arrives with a perfect score of 60 points.
Khun Poomee can be now regarded as something of a ‘Bira specialist’ but he’s been in action several times already at the new Buriram circuit so is likely to continue to be the benchmark for everyone else to measure up to. The pressure is really on his rivals – they have to show their hands this weekend or Khun Poomee will have put the title almost out of reach by Sunday evening.
The rivals start with the youngest driver in the field. Not even able to hold a road car licence yet, Khun Kmik Karnasuta (Brio) however bagged 42 points at Bira and is second in the standings. Unquestionably he’s a star of the future in the making. Just behind him comes Khun Bhisanu Busitarnuntakul (Brio Amaze) who will race in Super 2000 and Super Eco this weekend, he has 39 points. In the Super Eco Teams’ championship C-Four Motorsport leads the standings with 60 points thanks to the winning efforts of Khun Poomee.
Source. Racing Spirit