Round 3 and 4 of the Supercar Thailand Championship was held at Bira Circuit on the 15th and 16th of September.

TR-Motorsport worked hard on getting both Tony & Thomas cars ready for the event, and both cars finished 1 day before the event was to be held. Thus none of the drivers managed to get any practice in the cars, and on Friday the 14th when the cars rolled out for the one on only practice sessions, it was the first time the drivers was in their cars this season.

Tony last year rolled his car in Kaeng Kracharn Circuit and had since then had severe issues with the handling of the car, so over a period of 11 months everything was tried to cure the problem, but nothing seemed to help. As a last desperate attempt a new chassis was prepared and built up from the ground.

It was a race against time, and parts were order from overseas for the new car to make some improvements he had been wanting for some time, and the engine was overhauled for the event so it was a fresh engine. The suspension was sent of to KW in Germany and was overhauled and the bushings all over the car and the ball joints and wheel bearings were all changed out to cure the problem.

During the first test session Tony said that it was still have a small issue, but now the car was so much better than before, so he was confident of a good result this weekend in his class. On the first few laps in qualifying he took it easy getting settled in before starting to push, but before he could try and do a fast lap the engine blew up down the straight and the weekend was over for Tony.

The team and Tony were is disbelieve as the engine had just been overhauled and it broke down at fairly low RPM compared to race RPM.

Thomas rolled out onto the practice session in his Subaru with the new bodywork and new paintjob, and took it very easy around just getting used to the car again, but each time he turned left at turn 1 to go up the hill the car with misfire, and he therefore cut the session short and went to check the fuel level as the fuel pressure also dropped during the misfire.

They filled up the tank as it was very low on fuel and assumed the problem had been solved, as it did not have fuel issues in the pits after that.

Thomas then rolled out for the qualifying session, and did a slow installation lap, and the started to push, but again in Turn one it started to misfire and now also at Turn 2 and the car was getting fuel pressure as low as 1.0 when it misfired, so after 1 lap he drove slow for a second lap just to get a starting position for Sunday’s race, and then pitted to check what was wrong with the car.

An inspection of the fuel filter and pump showed they were blocked and the A-tank was getting low on fuel when racing, so they were cleaned and then the car was tested again and now everything was okay but as a precaution for the low fuel pressure an additional fuel pump was installed.

For Round 3 the skies had opened and the track was very wet. Normally Thomas likes the wet weather, but this time he was a bit concerned, as he had no proper rain tires, as the ones he had was from 2010, and had been given to him in 2011, so they were now 2 years old and had gone very hard and had small racks on the sidewalls.

As the lights went out Thomas started from 12th place on the 26 car grid, and pushed hard to get up at the front before they ran away, and within a few laps he was in 6th and from there slowly moved into 4th where he sat comfortably behind his Supercar Class Team mate Henk from B-Quik racing. Henk was fighting with Grant “Jump” in his EVO, and it looked like on the edge driving so Thomas decided to hold back and wait to see what happened.

A few laps later “Jump” spun the car and Henk and Thomas moved into 2nd and 3rd place. Henk was driving a fantastic race, and was very much in control, and for Thomas to try and overtake, he would have to take a big risk, which he was not willing to do, so he settled down for 3rd, and waiting to see if any opportunity would arise.

After a few laps more, Henk made a very small mistake at the end of turn 1, allowing Thomas to get the inside up the hill for Turn 2 and a great change to do the overtaking, but then a back marker came in the way up the hill. Henk moved to the left around the back marker and Thomas left with the choices of braking and loosing the chance or pulling right onto the grass, chose the latter option (see picture), and went for it. Henk and Thomas went into turn 2 side by side, but both careful to not risk anything and then came outside but side but with Henk having the better momentum and grip, so Thomas had to let Henk go and take up the pursuit from 3rd again.

On the following lap Thomas car suddenly again started to misfire and the fuel pressure dropped and in an effort to try and finish the race and salvage as many points as possible, Thomas slowed all the way down, and drove the remaining 5 laps at a very slow pace, meaning he was not able to finish better than 6th place.

Henk how ever won his class and was 2nd overall, so together with their points combined it was enough points to win the Team Trophy for round 3 in the fight for the Team Championship.

Round 4 rained away on Sunday and the event was postponed and will be raced in October together with rounds 5 & 6 also at Bira (12th to 14th of October).