The Bangsaen street circuit is hosting the final event of the 2016 TCR Thailand that was originally scheduled to take place on October 23, 2016, but was postponed because of the period of national mourning declared after the tragic death of King Bhumibol the Great.
The first 15-lap race was won by Kantadhee Kusiri in the Billionaire Boy Racing Honda Civic, while Carlo van Dam (Singha Motorsport Team Thailand SEAT León) was able to beat Jack Lemvard (Vattana Motorsport SEAT León) in the fight for the second place. This meant that van Dam and Lemvard are now co-leading the championship standings on equal points.
In 2016 Kusiri created a sensation when he fought for the top positions in the TCR International Series’ second race at Buriram and eventually emerged as the winner of both the event’s TCR Thailand races. At Bangsaen, Kusiri had claimed pole position, inflicting seven tenths of a second to Narasak Ittiritpong (Vattana Motorsport Honda Civic).
At the start of today’s race, Kusiri sprinted to the lead and bid farewell to the rest of the field. He pushed to create a gap in the first laps, leaving van Dam and Lemvard to have a close battle for the second place.
On lap 3 van Dam brushed a barrier, but was able to keep a charging Lemvard at bay; then, after lap 7, van Dam pulled away while Lemvard appeared to struggle with his car’s set up and lost contacts with his rival.
In the second part of the race, Kusiri eased down his pace and went to claim his third victory of the season from van Dam, Lemvard and Grant Supaphong (Kratingdaeng Racing Team SEAT León).
Chen Jian Hong (Kratingdaeng Racing Team SEAT León) was classified fifth and the winner of the AM class in which he beat Nattachak Hanjitkasen (TBN MK Ihere Racing Honda Civic) by a narrow margin of three-tenths.
As for Ittiritpong who had stalled his engine at the start, he retired during the first lap with a steering wheel problem.
The second race will take place tomorrow at 13:00 local time (7:00 in Central Europe), with van Dam and Lemvard facing each other in the final shootout to claim the first TCR Thailand crown.