Piti Bhirombhakdi and Kantasak Kusiri topped the podium twice at the wheel of Singha Motorsport Team's 488 GT3 in the opening round of the Thai series held in Buriram.
Race 1. Getting off to a fine start, the two Singha Motorsport Team-run Ferraris snatched the lead, however, later on the opening lap, car #89 was to slip back into fifth position. Kantasak and Piti’s 488 GT3 was forced to concede the first position to Vutthikorn and Kantadhee’s Bentley, while their team-mates became embroiled in a fine battle for third position with both the Lexus of Suttipong and Manat and the Lamborghini of Saravut and Sarun. At the head of the course, with forty minutes still left to run, the #34 Ferrari got involved in a splendid duel and eventually outpaced the Bentley to recapture the leading position. Car #89, which in the meantime had moved into third place, then got lumbered with a drive-through for having overtaken an opponent while the yellow flag was out, dropping a place in the process. The situation remained the same over the closing minutes of the race, giving the victory to Kantasak and Piti, with team-mates Voravud and Carlo in the 488 GT3 narrowly missing out on the podium. In GTM class, the 488 Challenge belonging to the Singha Motorsport Team, driven by Kittipol and Tin, ended the sixty-minute race in third position, eleventh overall.
Race 2. After an incident-free start, the Ferraris advanced into the slipstream of the leading Bentley crewed by Vutthikorn and Kantadhee, which was first to pit for the driver swaps, with the Maranello machinery simultaneously launching an attack that allowed Singha Motorsport Team’s 488 GT3s to take the race lead. Nevertheless, the #89 Ferrari gave up the lead due to a two-second stop & go in the pits, as did their rivals Bentley, with less than fifteen minutes to go until the chequered flag. The episode gave the green light to the #1 Audi crew of Sandy Stuvik and Daniel Bilski to temporarily lead the field; the German car, however, proved easy to catch and was quickly pounced on and overtaken by the 488 GT3 driven by Piti and Kantasak who took over the leadership some ten minutes from time. The finale saw a delightful battle between the Bentley and Voravud and Carlo’s Ferrari for the lowest step of the podium with the English car coming out on top. In the GTM class, third place and tenth overall, went to Singha Motorsport Team’s 488 Challenge handled by Kittipol and Tin.