A winning weekend for Audi Sport customers in Asia has come to a close with five different championship wins spread between the Audi R8 LMS GT3 and the RS 3 LMS.
At Thailand Super Series, Sandy Stuvik dramatically snatched the Super Car GT3 Drivers’ crown, with his team B-Quik Racing taking home the Teams’ championship. Stablemates Henk Kiks and Daniel Bilski finished an impressive third overall to go with the AM title they had already secured in the previous round.
Meanwhile in Zhuzhou, China, Huang Chuhan was crowned TCR China’s overall champion, helping Liqui Moly NewFaster to the Team’s title in the process.
“This weekend of success for our customers in Asia has been a fitting reward for the hard work, talent and determination shown by B-Quik Racing and Liqui Moly NewFaster,” said Martin Kuehl, Director of Audi Sport customer racing Asia. “Congratulations to Sandy, Henk, Daniel, Chuhan and everyone behind the scenes at both teams for a fantastic year.”
Thailand Super Series
In Saturday’s round seven, B-Quik Racing took a one-two victory, wrapping up the Super Car GT3 Teams’ title with one race to spare. Stuvik and teammate Martin Rump recorded their second win of the season ahead of Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup champion Andrew Haryanto and former F1 star Rio Haryanto.
Bilski and Kiks in the team’s third Audi R8 LMS GT3 crossed the line sixth, which meant the duo went into Sunday’s finale with a slender championship lead of just four points over Stuvik.
In round eight, Stuvik took over from Rump midway through the race and was running in fourth, with Andrew Haryanto just behind in fifth. Bilski was sixth meaning the championship contenders were neck-and-neck on the overall leaderboard as it stood. Bilski attempted to move his car back into overall championship lead with a big move on Haryanto.
Unfortunately, contact between the cars led to the unfortunate retirement of both, and with it, Bilski and Kiks’ championship ambitions.
That brought out the safety car, which circulated before coming back into the pit lane with 10 minutes remaining in the race.
Stuvik’s current fourth place was now comfortably enough to claim the championship, but the Thai driver wanted to do it in style. He got by one rival, then another, and with one lap remaining had a 2.5 second gap on the race leader to make up.
That he did, reeling in the front-runner and taking the lead with just a few corners left in the race as the B-Quik Racing pits erupted with emotion. He took the flag seconds later in first place, but was later demoted to second for contact made on his move into the lead.
That did little to dim the overall satisfaction of the team, who have claimed titles in all categories contested for the full season. Stuvik finishes alone atop the Super Cup GT3 standings on 126 points, after Rump missed the opening rounds of the season. Kiks and Bilski finished the season third on an impressive 112 points, the duo already having been crowned AM champions after their victory in the previous round in Bangsaen. B-Quik Racing finished the season as Teams’ champions on 246 points after dominating the series with six wins out of eight races for their stable of Audi R8 LMS GT3s.
TCR China
At southern China’s newest race track, the Zhuzhou International Circuit, three Audi RS 3 LMS lined up for the season finale of TCR China. Champ x TA Motorsport entered James Wong, but all eyes were on the brace of entries from Liqui Moly NewFaster, who led the driver standings with Huang Chuhan by 19 points, and the Teams’ championship.
Those leads were to prove unassailable. Huang took his team’s Audi RS 3 LMS home in fifth place in the first race, keeping himself firmly in the driving seat for the championship with the tenth race of the season incoming.
That finale started dramatically for Huang with a spin in the opening laps. Still, he recovered well to bring his car home in sixth, pipping his closest challenger to the 2019 overall drivers’ title by just four points.
Kenneth Look’s finishes of sixth and fourth over the weekend in the team’s sister car helped Liqui Moly NewFaster to the 2019 TCR China Teams’ title rounding off the season in style for the Chinese team.
After 10 rounds of racing, Huang finishes atop the driver standings on 144 points, with teammate Look third overall on 104 points.
