A winning weekend for B-Quik Absolute Racing, and a big haul of championship points, at a very hot and dry Chang International Circuit has hauled us into contention for a title showdown when Thailand Super Series returns to Buriram for the final round of 2022 in six weeks’ time.
Weekend highlight was a sensational 1-2 in Saturday’s first race with Sandy and Akash keeping it calm and cool on track in the #25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II, and when the race exploded in the final lap, they were ready to pounce and grab the win they craved after three runners up spots out of four races so far this year.
Crucially that win came with the maximum helping of championship points and that leapfrogged them ahead of their key rivals and into the provisional lead of the Drivers’ championship overnight!
Their rivals wiped out their deficit by bouncing straight back to win Sunday’s Race 2, but second place for the #25 means there’s just a couple of points difference at the top of the standings. So, it will be a case of winner takes all during the final round.
While Akash and Sandy certainly enjoyed their first win of the year in Race 1, Henk Kiks and Eshan Pieris in the #26 Audi turned in their best result of the year in Race 1 to finish runners up. This new partnership has been gelling and improving all year and it all came good on Saturday as both drivers turned in inch perfect drives. They backed that form up with a P6 in Race 2 to round out an excellent weekend.
Making it three cars on the podium in Race 1 was Vincente Floriendo and his new driving partner in the #55 Audi, former Formula One driver and all-round racing legend, Markus Winkelhock.
The German superstar showed just why he has such a big reputation, as for Race 2 he planted the #55 car on pole and they would eventually finish third, Vincente’s best result of the season so far.
There were two excellent points finishes for the all-Australian line-up in the #27 Audi, Daniel Bilski and Philip Massoud. They finished P7 in Race 1 and were on the podium in Race 2 in fourth, with those overall positions equating to a win and a runners’ up spot in GT3 AM.
In terms of the Teams’ championship, the team’s three registered cars – 25, 26 and 27 – combined to bag a big helping of points thanks to a coming 1-2-7 in Race 1 and 2-4-6 in Race 2. This means the slender three-point advantage we held coming into the race has opened out into a useful cushion, and means we go into the final round in a relatively strong position as we look to reclaim the Teams’ title.
In Super Car GTC, Adisak Tangphuncharoen in the #26 Porsche Cayman GT4 enjoyed a superb weekend, in the thick of the action in both races, trading the lead, he emerged with two runners up spots after following the winner across the line in both. In his rookie year in GTC he’s really showing his pace and talent and exceeding the team’s expectations!
We were also delighted to welcome back Ian Geekie to the team after a three-year hiatus and he was straight back on the pace in GTC. The veteran Australian is a driver that never changes, give him a racecar and he will wring the neck out of it – and that was the same case this weekend.
So, as the team heads back to Bangkok we are satisfied with the weekend. After a tough start to the year, we have knuckled down, worked hard, done what we needed to do and hauled ourselves back into the title fight. It’s game on now for the championship and all to play for when the final round moves into view.
Source. FastTrack Media
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