We came to Kaeng Kracharn Circuit well prepared and was hoping to do well in our class and a good top 5 result overall. The weather forecast has promised 70% chance of rain, several times this year the forecast had been for rain, but it had kept dry in all the races so far this season, so we did not want to get our hopes up too much before the race.

Khun Lim had spent a long time tuning the car on the dyno leading up to the race, and although no changes was made to it from the last race, the fact that it this time was tuned meant that it had 11 Nm of torque more and a staggering 35 HP more at the wheels, so we knew that if everything held up we would stand a good chance for a top 5 position.

We qualified the car well in the try condition and set a lap time that was 4^th fastest for the 1^st race and 3^rd fastest for the 2^nd race.

The following morning the clouds were hanging low over the circuit and it had been raining the whole night and it did not look like it was going to stop although the rain was not that heavy, but just enough to keep the track wet all the time.

The morning warm up was good, and we set the 2^nd fastest time, well knowing what we were capable off so we were already quietly confident for the first race of the day.

Race 1:

We had a great start and moved from 4^th into 3^rd in the first corner and then settled in for a few laps feeling the track conditions before pushing. We quickly caught up to the driver in 2^nd place and passed him under braking on the back straight, and then started to push to catch the ever fast flying Jack Lemvard who was already far out in the lead of the race.

After a few fast laps we caught him, and started to put a bit of pressure on him, but since he is a great driver, no mistakes was made so it was obvious that we needed to push harder to get past him, so he took the car closer to the limit and again on the back straight we managed to outbreak him into the corner at the end of the straight, and then we pushed hard for a few laps and opened up a huge gap, but after 2 laps we had a bit of a scare with the car more than 100% sideways almost facing in the wrong direction before it was saved, so I decided to slow down and play it safe since Jack and myself after all not was in the same class.

This allowed Jack to again close down the gap fast and as I was coming up to a back-marker and Jack was on one of his 100% committed charges, I thought is was better to back off and let him pass instead of trying to block him, which I did.

Jack took off into the sunset as if he was racing against me, and I took it easy for several laps, until I was shown a sign that Jack now had fastest lap of the race, which meant that he would start from pole in the afternoon race, so I now considered my options and if it would dry out then pole would be the only place where I could try and control the race from so I started to push again.

With 2 laps to go I pushed hard now, but on the first lap several back markers ruined the lap time, but I closed up the gap to jack with over 100 Mtrs, and then on the last lap I was on a super fast lap and caught over 200 Mtrs on Jack and now had to fight to get past him to try and get a good lap, but he was blocking everywhere, and again my lap time was ruined.

The lap time on the last lap was how ever still only 0.03 of a seconds slower than Jacks so I had to start from 2^nd place. Walking down to the pit I was called to the control tower and was told that I had won the race because jack had passed me under a yellow flag and therefore was penalized 30 seconds moving him back into 3^rd place overall, and moving me up as the overall and class winner.

Race 2:

The track was still wet and it was still drizzling a bit so race 2 would also be a wet race, which was great news for me. I was determined to try and get past jack in the first few laps and then open up a gap and try and control the race, but only if the opportunity came at the right place, because we were still in different classes so no real gain to win overall except for the pride and the extra cash.

I again had a great start and slipped in behind jack and started to put the pressure on him. Not long after that a small slide from him pushing hard meant I had a better exit onto the back straight so I for once had better speed than him on the straight and I was close enough to get passed him under braking.

I then pushed hard and opened up a great big gap to him and then when I felt comfortable I relaxed a bit and settled down into a steady rhythm. Then going into the hairpin at the bottom of the hill I suddenly lost all tracking and slid straight without any warning off the track and onto the grass and into the tire wall and was stuck there for a short while.

Apparently another car has spilled engine or gear oil just in the braking zone but nobody has seen it and therefore there were no warning flags being waived at me. As I was trying to back out of the tire wall Jack Lemvard went past me, and as I put it into 1^st gear “Bank” went past me, and pulled away while I was slipping and sliding going up hill on the grass trying to get back into the race and take up the chase.

As I was back in the race “Bank” was now almost 400 Mtrs ahead and Jack was over 1 Km ahead. I was furious with myself as I thought I had made a mistake and out braked myself, and I now pushed for all or nothing for a few laps to at least get past “Bank” and get my class win, and 3 laps later I was back up behind him, and with a bit of banging mirror’s and changing colors on the doors and fenders I got passed him.

With the adrenaline pumping I continued to push as I wanted to open up a gap just to make sure I would be able to stay in 1^st place in my class if something else should happen, and on the last lap I almost got back up behind Jack to Challenge for the overall win, but took it easy and settled for the 2^nd overall position and the 2^nd class win of the day, which now saw me in the contention for the championship min the class.

I managed to set the fastest lap of the race which was almost 1 second faster than anybody else on the track, but that was pushing very hard and not within my normal wet weather safe driving limits.

All in all a great day for myself and also my team mates, who all went on the podium that day, and as a team we managed to get a total of 10 trophies in Round 2 of the Championship with 3 of them being a 1^st place.

It’s hard to describe my feeling of joy standing on the top step at the end of the day, having not been able to finish a race most of the 2010 season and having been totally out powered by a few other cars this season, so after almost 2 years of no first places and very few podiums I was ecstatic to say the least, and had a smile on my face the rest of the evening.

The following day was how ever a different story, with a DNF in the 1^st race of the day   Since my engine broke in the first race I was out of engines and would likely have to sit out the second race, but Tony came to the rescue as he let me borrow his race engine and gearbox and the mechanics worked wonders to get Tony’s engine and gearbox installed into my car before the race. Starting from the pit lane in 22^nd place in the second race I had the work cut out for me, and already on lap 1 I lost 2^nd gear and then on Lap 3 I also lost 3^rd gear, so I now only had 4^th and 5^th gear left, and I had to drive the whole race in 4^th gear with an occasional shift into 5^th at the back straight when needed to do a passing, knowing that it would not go back into 4^th under braking so the S1 chicane would have to be done in 5^th instead of 3^rd and with the car all over the place. I somehow still managed to get a lap time of 1.32.5 with only 4^th gear working, so I feel that had all gears been working we would have been VERY fast.

With only 4^th gear working and starting from the pit lane in 22^nd place we moved up to 9^th overall and 7^th in class, so I guess we should have been happy with this, but after the previous day’s race wins, this just felt so bad and the day was a bit of a reminder of how cruel racing can be.

However not only did I have a bad day, every single driver in the team had a bad day, with the Jazz braking the engine, Khun Paul being hit in race one, damaging the wheel alignment so he was uncompetitive, and then in the second race having engine problems. And the worst and most spectacular was Tony when he pushed hard in the first race to get a good lap time for race 2, and then suddenly was cut off and forced of the track by a back marker, sending him head on into the barrier and the catapulting him into the air in a double summersault with the car eventually clipping the top corner of the front windscreen corner beam and then landing on its wheels with parts all over the track causing a red flag and the end of his race at KK circuit that weekend.

Next race weekend will be at KK circuit again but this time in the Thailand Touring Car Championship, so we are trying to get an engine ready for the event, so we can enter and try and get a good result again.