Another superb weekend for B-Quik Racing Co. Ltd. TM (“B-Quik Racing”) as the second round of Thailand Super Series (“TSS”) 2019 took the teams to Buriram’s Chang International Circuit where victory in Race 2 was claimed by our #26 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo in the hands of Henk Kiks and Daniel Bilski, their second overall win from the four races held so far this year.
That result, when added to a podium finish they scored in Race 1, means Henk and Daniel further extend their lead in the Super Car GT3 Drivers’ championship while B-Quik Racing remains at the top of the Teams’ standings.
We headed to Buriram in upbeat mood as we arrived off the back of victory in the GT3 AM class of Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia here last month but at the same time knowing there would be more new cars entered in Super Car GT3 and a bigger mix of pro drivers. While Henk and Daniel were back in our #26 Audi, Sandy Stuvik was joined by Audi Sport Asia driver Martin Rump in the #2 Audi R8 LMS Ultra.
Sandy planted the #2 Audi on pole for Race 1 last Saturday while Daniel put the #26 on Row 2. We were well positioned and looking for good results when a late intervention by the Safety Car worked against us and pitched our cars in amongst the pro drivers. Both Martin and Henk, in for the second stints, battled tenaciously to keep us in the game and finished in P3 and P4, respectively, the latter also winning the GT3 AM class, a very solid result which also bagged us the biggest share of points for the race and thus delivered the prestigious Teams’ trophy.
That was the perfect build up to Sunday’s Race 2 and this time we really delivered. Under the relentlessly beating Buriram sun and when others around them were losing their head Henk and Daniel kept it ice cool, drove inch perfect stints, supported by perfect strategy calls, especially as the Safety Car was deployed twice during the race, and with ultra-slick work from the crew at the mid race pitstop, everything slotted together for the #26 car to deliver up a superb win.
Henk had been in the car for the start the race and thrust in amongst the pro drivers he knuckled down, focused on his own race and delivered the lap times we needed to get us on schedule for P1. Daniel then clinically finished the job off with a strong and flawless second stint. The team erupted at the chequered flag as Daniel crossed the line with a 22.438 second winning margin.
That makes it two overall wins from four races so far for Henk and Daniel and four overall podiums out of four. They’ve also performed a clean sweep in GT3 AM with four wins out of four. The duo arrived in Buriram leading the Drivers’ classification, both Overall and GT3 AM, and they depart having consolidated their advantage at the top of the standings in both categories.
There was bitter luck though for the #2 Audi which was started by Martin from P3. He immediately got into a whole lot of scraps with the two Ferrari 488 GT3s. The young Estonian driver set a very robust pace to keep the ‘Ultra’ firmly on course to challenge for the win. However, at the scheduled mid race pitstop to hand over to Sandy the Audi wouldn’t restart and had to be retired with 17 laps completed.
It didn’t end there in Buriram as the B-Quik Junior Programme was represented in two categories: ‘Tier 2’ drivers Narin Naeosathon and Sathaporn Veerachue were in action in the Dodge Challenger in TA2 Thailand while Pongtanu Kamsai and Adisak Tangphuncharoen piloted our Honda Brios in Super Eco. The biggest highlight for the quartet of youngsters was Adisak’s stunning second place overall in Sunday’s Eco Race 2 while Pongtanu also scored very well with the runners up spot in his class in the previous day’s Race 1.
Now we turn our attention to the next race and it’s the highlight of the Thai racing year, the Bangsaen Grand Prix, which takes place 28 August – 1 September.
Source. FastTrack Media
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