B-Quik Absolute Racing emerged with a hat full of podium finishes as Thailand Super Series (TSS) 2022 kicked off last weekend with the Bangsaen Grand Prix, the iconic race finally returning after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A big step up for the team this year as it entered a roster of four Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2s, the cars all upgraded with the latest 2022 kit as they went into battle in the series’ headlining Super Car GT3 category.
With former double Super car GT3 Drivers’ overall champion Sandy Stuvik teaming up with a promising new signing, Malaysian driver Akash Nandy, Team Owner Henk Kiks being joined by another upcoming driver, Sri Lanka’s Eshan Pieris, who was starting his first full season with the team after joining at the tail end of 2021, experienced Filipino driver Vincente Floirendo, also with us for the first time and paired up with Audi racing legend Pierre Kaffer and finally the highly touted pairing of another former Super Car GT3 overall champion Daniel Bilski alongside the highly touted Philip Massoud, also starting his first full season with the team, there was a lot to play for.
The Bangsaen Grand Prix made a hugely welcome return to the calendar and for the first time it would be the TSS season opener with a very hot and dry week at the seaside awaiting the drivers and teams.
It proved to be a real typical Bangsaen weekend with our quartet of GT3 Audis in the explosive mix on these tough, narrow and treacherous streets right from the green lights in Race 1 and highlights included a stunning fightback by Sandy in Race 1 where the Thai driver demonstrated in no uncertain terms why he’s a title winner as he tore his way through the pack to finish second overall, missing P1 by mere tenths. Another corner and it would most likely have been a victory, but no complaints, that’s how we roll, fighting every inch of the way. Another driver proving why he’s also a champion, Daniel, fought his way to the front in the same race and pulled out a healthy lead.
Then there were dramas, as there always are in Bangsaen, and when the dust settled in raw results terms, we scooped up three podiums from Race 1 and two podiums from Race 2, everyone getting off the mark with a decent helping of points towards the Drivers’ championship standings and a combined sack full of points as we try our hardest to regain the Teams’ title!
With Akash, Eshan, Pierre and Vincente having never raced here before and Philip driving a GT3 level car here for the first time, plus two of the four race engineers also here for the first time, a new team manager, many new staff on the technical side and a whole new organizational structure, there was a lot of work to do to bed in, and the target was to hit the ground running, suffer no major car damage (with this being the opener) and hone the team for the long season ahead, so it was job well done and we are excited and ready for the second round!
Meanwhile our junior driver roster also enjoyed highs and lows and as they got to grips with the Bangsaen Street Circuit. Adisak Tangphuncharoen stepped up to Super Car GTC in our recently arrived Porsche Cayman GT4 and he made superb progress during his first-time racing with rear wheel drive, placing the car on the podium in both races. Not forgetting his roots he also put in two great drives in Super Eco.
We also entered cars in Toyota Motorsport’s Altis OMR and the brand-new Yaris OMR classes as well as in the 4 Hour RAAT Endurance Race so there was plenty of track time for all the drivers in the programme.
A big congratulations to the organizers’, Racing Spirit, for superbly putting together what is now one of the greatest motorsport spectacles in Asia and we immediately turn our attention to the second round which comes up at Chang International Circuit, Buriram, next month, 25-28 August!
Source. FastTrack Media
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