Bangkok--23 Jul--Stuvik Racing Project
The Thai racing driver Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik raced at Japans famous Fuji Speedway at this weekend's record large grid of 33 super cars from all over the world. As usual the Thai racer teamed up with Australia's Shae Davis, with the pair hoping for a strong performance like last year at the iconic circuit on the foothills of Mount Fuji.
A strong qualifying saw the pair lining up the Porsche GT3-R of 4th place for the first race and tenth, for the second. However, in the first corner of the first race a Lamborghini was run into by another car, causing it to ram the Thai driver, sending him careening into the retaining wall. The mechanics worked late into the night to replace the Porsche's front, right and rear bodywork and parts, to have the car ready again to fight in the second race on Sunday.
The Australian racing driver Shae Davis started the race and did an excellent job of maintaining the 10th position for the Porsche while it was struggling in the heat at Fuji with a heavy fuel load. Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik took over the car midway through the race and thanks to an excellent pit stop by drivers and team, managed to jump up to 9th as Stuvik went around the first lap. As the weight of the fuel gradually came down, the Thai driver could push the Porsche harder and going faster still he managed to overtake Ferrari's Morris Chen to move up to eight position.
I was disappointed that we couldn't fight for a podium in Race 1, as I believe we were in a very strong position to do so. Unfortunately that's a part of racing and we have to accept when it is out of our control. For Race 2 Shae made a good start to maintain 10th position in the super competitive field, and after we changed and I got in the car we managed to pick up 2 more positions to claim 8th. It was the maximum we could have done with today's hot and dry conditions and I'm content knowing that we did everything we could in this race. Now we look forward to Shanghai where we hope for cooler weather and hopefully some rain!, Sandy says after the race.
Although Stuvik could not bring home a podium position from Fuji Speedway this year, he was elated that the team could achieve another point scoring position and continue to build for the championship through a strong performance by both drivers and the team.
Sandy Stuvik is honored to be supported by The Pizza Company, Singha Corporation, Thai Airways, Thaiwings Travel Agency, Dacon Inspection Services, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Sports Authority of Thailand, and the Royal Automobile Association of Thailand.