THAILAND SUPER SERIES ROUND TWO WIN AND CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD FOR HENK KIKS AND DANIEL BILSKI

B-Quik Racing’s Henk Kiks and Daniel Bilski have taken their 2019 Audi R8 LMS GT3 to a memorable overall victory in round two of Thailand Super Series. The win follows on from their third place finish in Saturday’s round one and catapults the pair into overall series lead. The team’s Audi R8 LMS ultra entry of Shaun Thong and Sandy Stuvik battled well all weekend to take podiums in both races. The FIA silver-graded pair now sit third in the overall championship.

“Today was B-Quik Racing’s day. Henk Kiks, Daniel Bilski and the team managed the race expertly, congratulations to them all,” said Martin Kuehl, Director of Audi Sport customer racing Asia. “Shaun Thong and Sandy Stuvik showed great pace over the weekend, it’s exciting to see two young Asian talents fighting for wins together in an Audi R8 LMS.”

Henk and Bilski’s points haul sees them top the overall GT3 championship (40 points). Thong and Stuvik sit just seven points back, third overall (33 points) after two rounds of the eight-round championship.

B-Quik Racing also sits atop the GT3 Teams’ classification on 73 points.

Round one

B-Quik Racing laid down an early marker for the weekend in the first qualifying session, with Stuvik grabbing pole position for the #2 Audi R8 LMS ultra and Bilski starting third in the #26 Audi R8 LMS GT3.

When the lights went out on the 60-minute sprint the yellow and black machines got away well, with Stuvik holding position and Bilski moving up into second by turn two.

Both of the B-Quik Racing drivers then set about pulling a gap. Stuvik had opened a 10 second gap as the compulsory driver change pit window approached, but lost seconds of time to a slow puncture at the 23 minute mark.

The Thai youngster came in early to hand the reins to Thong with the team working quickly to change the offending tyre.

Thong emerged from the driver change in fourth after serving the longest compulsory stop in the field. The series seeks to level the playing field across all driver combinations, and with Thong and Stuvik the only FIA silver-ranked pair, they spent longest in the pits.

Kiks took the reins of the 2019 Audi R8 LMS GT3 from Bilski and emerged from pit lane in race lead. Unfortunately, the pair were adjudged to have spent too short a time in the pits, and lost their lead when hit with a one second stop-and-go penalty for the infraction.

That saw Kiks fall to second in the order, with Thong sweeping into third and then tucking up behind the B-Quik Racing team boss with 13 minutes of the race remaining. Thong found his way past and took the flag in second place with Kiks third overall, scoring an Am class win for himself and Bilski.

Round two

Sunday’s round two saw Thong start from second, with Kiks fifth on the starting grid. On a typically scorching afternoon at the Sepang International Circuit, the lights went out and Thong and Kiks were swamped from the start, falling to third and seventh respectively.

As the race settled into a rhythm, Thong moved up to second and Kiks up to sixth before an incident at the tail of the 23-strong field saw the safety car called out 13 minutes into the one-hour race.

With the field bunched up, the safety car was called in just six minutes before the midrace driver change pit window opened. As soon as the window opened, Thong dived into the pit lane with Stuvik taking driving duties and the Audi R8 LMS ultra shod on new rubber, looking to gain an advantage with the undercut.

Kiks was also in early in the window and a perfectly executed pit stop saw Bilski emerge with the 2019 Audi R8 LMS GT3 once more in race lead. Stuvik was in fifth and pushing hard. He quickly moved up to fourth and faced an 18 second gap to the driver in third place.

Bilski managed his lead with aplomb, keeping himself out of reach of the second place challenger by pumping out consistent lap time after consistent lap time. The Australian took the flag having extended the advantage he inherited to almost nine seconds for a memorable victory.

Stuvik’s stint also caught the eye after he first reeled in third place and then set about closing another big gap to second. Ultimately it wasn’t to be, as the Thai driver ran out of time, crossing the line all over the back of his rival, just one-tenth of a second off second place.

The Thailand Super Series now heads home for three double-header GT3 race meetings in Thailand. Rounds three and four will be held at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram on June 8-9, before the series’ showpiece event at the beachside Bangsaen Grand Prix at the end of August.

Source. Audi