The sixth and final round of the Blancpain GT Series Asia took place at the new Ningbo International Speedpark in the Zhejiang province of China last weekend. Thai racing driver Sandy Stuvik was once again joined by his Australian teammate Shae Davies for the season finale.
Stuvik qualified in 8th position in Qualifying 1 with his Porsche 911 GT3 R. The times were close in the session, so the race was shaping up to be an exciting one. Davies meanwhile qualified in 13th position in Qualifying 2, in a hotly contested session.
Stuvik took the start in Race 1 and was up to 5th position until a crash between a Nissan GTR GT3 and an Audi R8 GT3 happened in front of the Thai driver. A further collision was unavoidable although Stuvik did everything he could to evade it. The damage sustained was too heavy to continue the race and he was forced to retire his Porsche from the race.
The Craft Bamboo Racing team mechanics did a fantastic job to get the car repaired and race-ready for Race 2 the following morning. Shae Davies took the start and after a lot of chaos in the opening laps, the Australian managed to settle down in 13th position before handing the car over to his Thai teammate. Stuvik fought as hard as he could to maintain track position but the lack of pace from the car was making a points-finish difficult. The Thai driver was then unfortunately tagged into a spin during a racing incident. He was unable to restart the engine, and was forced to retire the car once more.
“It was one of the most challenging weekends and seasons in my career,” said Stuvik later. “The team has done a fantastic job all season and we’ve been able to get on the podium, but ultimately I feel that the car we’ve had has been lacking pace. We will be back stronger and faster, and we are working towards next season already.
“I want to thank all my supporters for following me this season and I will do everything I can to bring the Thai flag and anthem to the circuits next year,” added the young Thai.
