6th Place For Thong In Thailand Marks His Best Super GT Weekend So Far
2019 Super GT
Chang International Circuit, Thailand 29 - 30 June, 2019
Heading into the only foreign race weekend of the 2019 Super GT at Buriram, Thailand . Thong seeks to continue his points finishing strike since Round.2 from Fuji Speedway in May.
On Saturday Shaun qualified 2nd overall during Q1 with less than 0.1s off pole position, which marks his best qualifying position this season so far and his 4th consecutive Top 16 qualifying result. Thong’s teammate Lee then qualified 10th in Q2 which determine the starting grid for the main race on Sunday. It is also the #33 EVA Racing / X Works Nismo GT-R’s best starting position in their rookie season.
Marchy Lee took the start on Sunday and made his way up to 8th position at one point before tire degradation hits hard on the #33 X Works Nismo GT-R. Thong took over the car in position 11th and rejoined the field at position 14th after the driver change with 36 laps to go.
With the benefit of a safety car after the pitstop, Thong showed top pace during the stint and fought his way up to 6th place with just 2 seconds behind 4th and 5th place during the checkered flag. Thong said “It was definitely one of my best stints so far, the car performed so well and the key point to this was the tire management since the out-lap. I knew from past experience that Chang International Circuit is a relatively high grained circuit and extremely hot in track temperature, so looking after the tires will be my main focus and will benefit the performance at the closing stage which once again was proven today. Thank you X Works and Nismo for providing a really competitive car as well.”
With a strong 6th place finish in Thailand, Thong is now standing 12th in the drivers championship with 10 points in total. The next event will see Super GT heading back to Fuji Speedway once again for the 500 Miles endurance race from 3rd - 4th of August.
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