2014.12.13

Thailand Super Series Round 7 - Race

　Race day of “Thailand Super Series” Round 7 was held on December 13th, and #36 arto-MC86 with the GT300 mother chassis entered in the Super Car Class 1 from TOYOTA TEAM THAILAND driven by Kazuya Oshima ended in bitter retirement.

 

　

　December 13th, the race day of Thailand Supercar Series Round 7, saw the coolest condition out of the race week with mostly cloudy and occasional sunshine. After qualifying fourth the day before, #36 arto-MC86 underwent re-checkup with Oshima by side to review its vehicle condition during the qualifying, and the team concluded that it was worthful to try and changed the setting further despite there was not any opportunity to run the car for a checkup before the race. The team took on the race after making adjustments on the height, camber, stabilizer, etc.

 

 

 

　Executive vice president and other executives of Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd. made a visit to show their support while the team prepares for the race and had a close look at the machine with team principal Suttipong Smittachartch (left in photo).

 

　Street circuit of this event runs through residential area as well as a coast line and has a long home straight. The track has a hairpin corner tighter than the famous Melco Hairpin of Macau Grand Prix, and the narrowest section of the track is not wide enough to have two cars side by side as Oshima commented, “It is scarily narrow to run with a GT car.” Though a street circuit, the drivers would need to go as fast as 235km/h or more, so it is guts rather than bravery that is demanded at the track.

 

　Grid walk was held on the dummy grid set up on the pit road at around 14:30 before the race. Completed back-to-back win at the previous event at BURIRAM, #36 arto-MC86 continued to be popular at the site.

 

　Cars entered the track at 15:05 and made 2 rolling laps to warm up the tires. As the home straight being the only place for overtaking and the most unfavorable part of the track for #36 arto-MC86, Oshima worked elaborately to warm up the car to be ready for fast acceleration exiting the last corner and braking at the end of straightaway.

 

After completion of the rolling lap, the race started by the green light turning on. #25 TOMAS ENGE (CAMARO GT3) and #12 PITI BHIROMBHAKD (PORSCHE 997 GT3) I ahead dashed out as the race started. #36 Oshima (arto-MC86) stayed focused on not allowing #78 SUTTILUCK BUNCHAROEN (Lamborghini LP560-4) to overtake and went through the first corner by maintaining the racing order. #37 INDHARASAK TECHATERASIRI (Lamborghini LP520 EVO) running in the back group crashed at the first chicane on the first lap, but the race continued as the car was taken out quickly. However, by the time Lap 2 was completed, #25 ENGE at leading position was on a good pace and created 8 seconds gap ahead. #12 PITI followed the leader with 1 second gap, but #36 Oshima was falling behind from the top cars. However, Oshima did not give up and kept on chasing the cars ahead as there were many crashes/retirements in other classes caused by losing traction on the surface. In addition, looking back at the previous round in BURIRAM, the CAMARO GT3 of #25 ENGE at the lead suddenly lost its pace in the second half of the race after the brakes started to give up, possibly due to its gigantic body. Oshima waited for a chance by controlling his peaky car and keeping the pace in the 44 sec mark. However, Oshima claimed over the radio that he couldn’t shift the gears as he was going through the latter half of the track on Lap 6. He was able to recover after following an instruction from the chief mechanic, but then the gear stuck in neutral at just before the first corner on Lap 7, and that forced the team retire from the race in disappointment. #25 TOMAS ENGE hanged on at the leading position until the finish line and won the race, making a revenge for the loss at previous round. #12 PITI finished second and #28 CHONSAWAT was the third finisher.

 

 

 

Page Top