Audi will be represented at the 2022 Singapore F1 GP’s supporting Thailand Super Series race.
This year, the Thailand Super Series is getting its big break – supporting its first world-class motorsport event, the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Marina Bay street circuit in Singapore. Competing at the Thailand Super Series will be Indonesian Andrew Haryanto and Australian Yasser Shahin among five Audi entries.
That means that not only will it be the Thailand Super Series’ debut on Singapore’s 5.063km Marina Bay street circuit, but also the debut of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 and Audi R8 LMS GT4 there at all. Given Audi has confirmed its entry into Formula 1 as a power unit manufacturer, this is quite a significant event.
Here’s the press release with more.
PRESS RELEASE
A pair of Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute R8 LMS GT3s for Australian Yasser Shahin and Indonesia’s Andrew Haryanto are among five Audi entries for the invitational Thailand Super Series (TSS) event in support of the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix from September 30 to October 2. Joining them are two GT3 entries from TSS front-runners B-Quik Absolute Racing for team principal Henk Kiks and Vincent Floirendo, with an Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 entered for Anderson Tanoto.
The Audi R8 LMS GT3, GT4, as well as the TSS, will all be making their debuts on Singapore’s 5.063km Marina Bay street circuit in the two, 25-minutes plus one lap non-championship races, and it is the first appearance by the multiple title-winning car at a round of the Formula 1 World Championship in Southeast Asia.
The Audi Sport Asia Absolute Racing duo are two of the region’s most accomplished privateer drivers. Shahin is the reigning GT World Challenge Australia Pro-Am champion and took the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup title in 2019, having finished third on his series debut the preceding year. Haryanto, meanwhile, was Cup champion in 2018, the same year he finished runner-up in the Spa 24 Hours Group N class.
Shahin and Haryanto take up their seats in Singapore as reward for their results in the final season of the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup in 2019. The original prize, to be part of an Audi Sport Asia squad in the Suzuka 10 Hours the following year along with China’s Anthony Liu, was scuppered by the pandemic. However, instead the pair will line up on the grid at one of the biggest events on the Formula 1 calendar.
Liu was entered into the 2021 China GT Championship and lifted both the Team and Driver titles alongside Audi Sport Asia star Cheng Congfu with the FAW-VW Audi Racing Team.
Earlier this season both Kiks and Floirendo contested the opening round of the TSS at the Bangsaen Grand Prix, according to many drivers one of the most challenging street circuits in the world. Both took a Pro-Am podium there, and the experience will serve them well when they take to the Marina Bay Circuit for the first time.
Long time Audi Sport Asia partner Absolute Racing enters an Audi R8 LMS GT4 for Anderson Tanoto. The Indonesian driver impressed on his competition debut in 2018, when he won the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup GT4 title, and has since competed in both Asia and the USA.
TSS heads to the Singapore Grand Prix as part of its tenth anniversary celebrations and, although not points-scoring towards the championship, both races will be no less hard fought by the strong international field.
The initial plan for the city-state’s now famous street circuit was created by renowned track designer Hermann Tilke, and was first used in 2008 at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. The 23 corners provide plenty of challenges, while a unique feature is T18, which sees the cars driver underneath a spectator grandstand.
The drivers will get their first taste of the Marina Bay Circuit on Friday, September 30, with a 30-minute practice session starting at 14:30, followed by a single qualifying session at 15:45 to decide the grid for race one at 15:45. The opening race of the weekend starts at 15:10 on Saturday, and each drivers’ fastest lap will set the grid for race two which gets underway at 15:10 on Sunday (all times UTC+08:00)
