The final round of the 2021 Thailand Super Series championship took place over Christmas weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram on the 24-26 of December. Sandy entered the final weekend tied for 4th position in the championship.
Friday morning saw the beginning of the first of two official practice sessions where Sandy and his new teammate for the round, Eshan Pieris, got up to speed and dialed in the setup of their #1 B-Quik Absolute Racing Audi R8 GT3 Evo. The sessions went well, with Sandy’s teammate quickly acclimatizing to the handling of the Audi in his first ever experience in GT3 machinery.
“Today we’ve been working a lot on our qualifying and race setups, and feel we have made good steps forward,” Sandy explained.
On Friday afternoon, the qualifying sessions took place and Eshan Pieris qualified in 4th position for Race 1 and Race 3 (Race 3 using the same qualifying results for Race 1). Sandy qualified in 6th position for Race 2 in a session filled with lap time deletions for track limits. “It was a difficult session for me, just unlucky with our placement for the races, and it’ll make the races a bit more testing, but we’ll give it our best shot,” Sandy said.
On Saturday morning, the first of 3 races took place with Sandy’s teammate Eshan Pieris starting the race. Eshan started in 4th position and did well to maintain his position after a hard battle. He handed over to Sandy in the mandatory pit-stop. Sandy exited the pits in 5th position because of the pit compensation time given to Eshan and Sandy for being a Silver-Silver driver pairing. Sandy got to work hunting down 4th position, and managed to claim the spot just before the end of the race.
“That was the hardest fought 4th position of my life, just focusing on making the tires last until the end was an intense challenge,” Sandy said.
Race 2 took place later on Saturday with Sandy starting the race in 6th position. After a good start Sandy found himself on the outside on the first turn, and had to secede positions to rejoin the track. In an effort to regain lost ground, Sandy made contact with another car, resulting in more time loss. After handing over to Eshan in the middle of the race, the duo finished in 6th position.
“Another tough race for me today, and 6th was the best we could do,” Sandy said.
The final race of the year took place on Sunday midday, with Sandy’s teammate Eshan taking the wheel for the start. After a difficult start, Eshan began making his way through the field and made contact with another car, resulting in more time loss. Eshan handed over to Sandy who drove a consistent stint to finish the race.
“The pace over my stint was good, but there was not much to speak of otherwise. It was not our weekend, so now we look forward to next year,” Sandy said.
Sandy finished the 2021 Thailand Super Series in 4th position in the driver’s standings.
Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik is honored to be supported by Carsome, The Pizza Company, B-Quik, Audi Sport Asia, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Jet8 Aviation, Thai Airways, Puma Thailand, Dacon Trading, Thaiwings Travel Agency, the Sports Authority of Thailand, and the Royal Automobile Association of Thailand.
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