Bangkok--12 Apr--dacon-inspection
The young Thai racer makes his European Race debut at Hockenheim in Germany in the first 3 races of the Northern European Cup during April 9-10, 2011. Both Team Keo Racing and Sandy feels this is a good way to warm up before the Formula Renault EuroCup season starts a week later in Spain. (April 16-17, 2011) The Hockenheim race weekend will incorporate 3 races and offers plenty of opportunity to gain experience from the organization and not the least this famous Formula One circuit. Sandy has been preparing meticulously on the Thai based simulator and his fitness to be as ready as he can be for this first race in Europe.
The 15 year old Thai racer “Sandy Stuvik” sponsored by The Pizza Company, Dacon and Singha saw the Hockenheim track for the first time, during Friday first morning’s practice session, but he could only put in a handful of laps and ended up 24th out of the 28 cars in the first morning practice, while getting to know the track..
For the second practice an issue with the car kept him in the pit half way through the session before he could get out, but during the 3 timed laps he managed he was now 14th fastest.
Qualify session
There NEC cup have 2 qualify sessions. Qualifying 1 gives the starting position for race 1, and qualifying 2 gives the starting position for race 2, and the result of race one, gives the starting position for race 3.
Qualifying 1: During the first qualifying session Sandy had a bit too much over steer in the car, and struggled a bit with the lap time, and as a result he was a bit slower than in his second free practice and qualified 17th for the first race.
Qualifying 2: For Qualifying 2, the set-up of the car had been changed and the car was now much better and on his third lap out he set his fastest time so far (1:39:550), at the new track, and kept improving while testing the limits only to find them in turn 8 as he flew of the track and into the gravel trap.
The Teams expectations and hopes for Sandy first race in Europe was to qualify in top 15 and to finish the races in the top half of the 28 drivers. The Team and Sandy was therefore happy with the results, but Sandy felt there was much more left and that he would be able to do better during the races.
Hockenheim Race 1
Sandy had quite a good start from P17 on the grid and got past one car on the first lap and started charging his way up the field, feeling the car's set up was very good. However on lap 2 he tried overtaking another car in Turn 6, in front of the Mercedes grandstand, but the other car closed in on him and broke his front wing. From then on it became a fight for positions and an effort to try and lose as few positions as possible the rest of the race. The race distance in these races does not allow enough time for pitting and changing the front wing like in F1 races, so Sandy had to keep driving with the front wing almost broken off and pointing up-wards. Sandy managed to keep 16th place in race 1.
Hockenheim Race 2
In race 2 Sandy started from 13th place and again had a good start overtaking 2 cars on the first lap and charging after the lead group. Lap 3 saw the Safety Car coming on track and after the release on lap 5, Sandy again got himself past one car and chased after the lead group. Through the mid race Sandy had closed up the gap to the lead group, but towards the end of the race his tires started going off, so Sandy drove controlled to secure 9th place out of the 28 cars starting. The young Thai driver was satisfied with his result and very happy with his team’s performance. This is still very early days and there is much to learn, but clearly Sandy is catching up fast.
During race 2 the German Race Commentator also gave Sandy his first European Nickname while catching up to the front leading group “Der Schenller Thailander”, which means “The Fast Thai driver”.
Hockenheim Race 3:
Sandy started this time from 16th place, as he finished his first race with the broken front wing in 16th place, but a slow start saw Sandy dropping 3 positions before turn one. Sandy quickly fought back and, by the end of the first lap he had regained those 3 lost positions from the start and another 2 places and was in 14th. A lap later he was up to 12th and had the 8 fastest time and was pushing hard ... and a bit too hard, and then he pushed too much through Turn 1, got a huge over steer and went backwards off on the inside of the curve. With the tires just a foot or two inside the gravel, the marshal’s refused to push him back out and instead he was hoisted off the track.....and the race was over.
Sandy takes with him a wealth of experience and the memories of a fantastic racing weekend at Hockenheim. Sandy is very grateful for the support and help from KEO Racing and his excellent engineers and race mechanics, and now the focus is on the 1st real raced of the Euro Cup at Motorland in Spain on the 16th and 17th of April.
The Formula Renault EuroCup has been raced since 1991. It is organized under the “World Series by Renault” program and races on Formula One tracks across Europe. The 2011 season will start at Motorland in Spain and move on to Spa Francorchamps, then N?rburgring, Hugaroring, Silverstone, Paul Ricard, before ending back in Spain at Catalunya Circuit in October. The championship winner will secure a budget of Euro 500 000 to continue Formula Renault V6. Racing drivers who has passed Formula Renault Eurocup and is now in Formula One now are amongst other Pedro de la Rosa, Filipe Massa and Kamui Kobayashi.
Sandy’s Formula Renault Eurocup 2011 Racing Schedule:
Rounds 1 & 2: 16-17 April Motorland, Spain
Rounds 3 & 4 30 April — 1 May Spa-Francorchamps Belgium
Rounds 5 & 6 18-19 June N?rburgring Germany
Rounds 7 & 8 2-3 July Hugaroring Hungary
Rounds 9 & 10 20-21 August Silverstone UK
Rounds 11 & 12 17-18 September Paul Ricard France
Rounds 13 & 14 8-9 October Catalunya Spain
For more information, please contact
Ms. Sasinee Aoucharoenpuck
PR Executive
Tel:+66 38 880788 Fax: +66 38 880727
Mobile: +66 81 8646909
Email:
[email protected]
Website: www.sandystuvik.com