2014.12.15

Thailand Super Series Round 8 - Race

　Race day of Thailand Super Series Round 8 was held on December 14th, and TOYOTA TEAM THAILAND’s #36 arto-MC86 built on a GT300 mother chassis entered in the Super Car Class 1 finished sixth with Kazuya Oshima at the wheel.

 

　

　

　Unlike the day before, temperature rose on the Round 8 race day held on December 14th, which allowed races of different classes to be held under a blue sky of southern land. Problem in the paddle shift forced #36 arto-MC86 to stop during the race held on the day before, but the cause was identified and remedied. In addition, the team changed the setting on the car for the race. Performance weight mandated on the car for the Round 8 race was reduced from +50kg to +30kg based on the result of Round 7. Reduction of weight is highly likely to work in advantage for #36 arto-MC86 which lacks power compared to other GT3 cars. GTA Chairman Masaaki Bandoh had travelled to the venue to offer encouragement to Oshima and the arto team manager.

 

　Cars entered the track for the race later than initially scheduled at 17:10. It was that time of the day when the afternoon sun gets in your eyesight, making it difficult to drive. #25 TOMAS ENGE (CAMARO GT3) was on pole, and #12 PITI BHIROMBHAKD (PORSCHE 997 GT3) at second, #28 CHONSAWAT ASAVAHAME (Lamborghini LP600 GT3 FL2) at third, and #36 Oshima at fourth on the starting grid. Race started after two laps of warm-up. #28 CHONSAWAT starting from the third position made a rocket-start right after the green light and went through the first corner at top position. #12 PITI and #25 ENGE followed behind, but #36 Oshima lost a position down to fifth place after allowing #37 INDHARASAK TECHATERASIRI (Lamborghini LP520 EVO) staring from the fifth position to overtake at the start. While #28 CHONSAWAT and #12 PITI were fighting for the lead, #36 Oshima had to pace with #37 TECHATERASIRI and was forced to lap around in the upper half of 45 second mark, which was slower than the qualifying time. Oshima made attempts at the last corner various times, but he was not able to overtake as it was risky to run on the dusty outer side of the corner. On Lap 7, #37 ITECHATERASIRI suddenly lost speed at the hairpin, and, as soon as the racing order became #12 PITI, #25 ENGE, and #28 CHONSAWAT, ENGE began a vigorous push. By utilizing the huge power of CAMARO GT3, #25 ENGE easily passed #12 PITI on the straight and took away the lead. #36 Oshima continued to push against #37 ITECHATERASIRI until Lap 16, but ITECHATERASIRI did a good job keeping Oshima behind by making no mistakes. On Lap 17, a sign of problem in the paddle shift started to appear once again on #36 Oshima, allowing #78 Suttiluck Booncharoen (Lamborghini GT3) to overtake, putting Oshima down to sixth position. From there Oshima stayed cautious on the paddle shift and managed to receive checker flag at sixth place.

 

　Being unable to adopt to the rough road surface of the street race was one of the key cause of defeat for the MC86, a racing machine developed exclusively for use at circuits, but, considering the team was able to find a new possibility in the suspension setting, the race was certainly a positive step that leads to the future.

 

 

 

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