B-Quik Absolute Racing will run an eight-car team in the Singapore Grand Prix as TSS The Super Series support race will make its maiden appearance at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 1/2.
The team will be spearheaded by Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute drivers and former Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup Champions Yasser Shahin and Andrew Haryanto. Both drivers will drive Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II cars.
Aussie Shahin is one of the region’s most skilled Am competitors, his successes with Audi include winning the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup title in 2019, before claiming the Australian GT World Challenge Pro-Am crown in 2021.
2018 Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup Champion Haryanto is competing in the European Le Mans Series GTE class this season with a third place finish in the 4 Hours of Monza as best season result so far. The highly accomplished Indonesian driver managed to complete the last two editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours, but he will be racing in the streets of Singapore for the first time.
Shahin and Haryanto take up their seats in Singapore as reward for their results in the final season of the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup in 2019. The original prize, to be part of an Audi Sport Asia squad in the Suzuka 10 Hours the following year along with China’s Anthony Liu, was scuppered by the pandemic. However, instead the pair will line up on the grid at one of the biggest events on the Formula 1 calendar.
Making their first appearance on Singapore’s street circuit, B-Quik Absolute Racing regulars Vincente Floriendo and Henk Kiks will again drive their Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II cars, hoping to keep the momentum of the Thailand Super Series. They both finished on the podium in the previous race in Buriram, and this year they had the opportunity to race on a street circuit in the season opener at Bangsaen.
Indonesian amateur Anderson Tanoto, who has also raced in Audi’s one-make R8 LMS Cup, took part in two US races with Absolute Racing earlier this season, will return to the cockpit of his Audi R8 LMS GT4 on his Singapore Grand Prix weekend debut. Tanoto impressed on his competition debut in 2018, when he won the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup GT4 title, and has since competed in both Asia and the USA.
Francis Tjia, a Dutch driver who has competed in a variety of series, primarily onboard Ferraris and Porsches, will be another known face in the team. With a knowledge of the track gained over several participations in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, Tjia will drive a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entered by Trans-China Automotive Racing.
As previously announced, hometown hero racer Yuey Tan will drive the SLK Racing-entered Porsche 911 GT3-R and experienced American amateur racer Greg Bennett will drive the teams’ new Porsche Cayman GT4 RS.
The Singapore Grand Prix returns after a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic. TSS The Super Series features a mix of GT3/ GTM and GTC supercars with 27 drivers from all over the world.
On Friday, drivers will have their first impressions of the Marina Bay Circuit. September 30, with a 30-minute practice session starting at 14:30 local time, followed by a single qualifying session at 1545 to decide the grid for race one. The opening race of the weekend starts at 1510 on Saturday, and each drivers’ fastest lap will set the grid for race two which gets underway at 1510 on Sunday.
Source. FastTrack Media
Comments
