B-Quik Co. Ltd. (“B-Quik”) has just completed the first stage of its ambitious “Driver Selection Programme 2018” which saw 83 employees taking part in an intensive tuition process that, over the duration of three days, was narrowed down to twelve finalists to go forward to a second and final stage that will produce two winners.
The aim of the programme is for B-Quik to discover a motor racing ‘star of the future’ from amongst its more than 2,500 technical staff that work at its 145 Stores. We want to groom a future “Super Car” champion – taking one of our staff all the way to the pinnacle of national motorsport.
The final two drivers (with two reserves also to be selected) will then be inducted into B-Quik Racing Co. Ltd. (“B-Quik Racing”) to start working their way up the ‘racing ladder’.
The ‘first rung’ will see them race a Toyota Vios in the Toyota Vios Cup ‘one make’ championship this year as well as a Honda Brio in Thailand Super Series.
Clearly, the “Driver Selection Programme 2018” is a hugely ambitious project – no other company in Thailand undertakes such a far-sighted venture – and that’s really a reflection of B-Quik, setting the sector pace. We rise to every single challenge, we continually seek to be the best. It’s quite simply what we are all about.
The evaluation programme was carried out at IMPACT Speed Park using its fleet of electric karts on behalf of B-Quik by Racing Spirit Co. Ltd. (“Racing Spirit”), the promoter of Thailand Super Series. The highly experienced coaches from Racing Spirit, which include former Thai national champions – drivers who have previously succeeded at what our programme aims to achieve – rigorously examined the applicants over three days through an exhaustive process that included not just their on-track skills but detailed evaluation of their ability to learn, their overall approach, commitment and even punctuality.
Over the three days the 83 finalists continuously raised their game and kept on improving, getting faster and faster and more competent with each session. Although 12 drivers went through to the final stage every single person who took part can be proud of what they achieved, everyone gave it their all, everyone dug in and showed what they were made of, it was quite a contest.
At the same time the two finalists from ‘Season 2’ – who now have a year’s racing in the Brios behind them – were closely evaluated by the Racing Spirit trainers to choose one to go forward to drive a Camaro TA2 in TA2 Thailand this year. It was very close such was the ability demonstrated by Narin Naeosathon and Sathaporn Veerachue but in the end the decision came down in favour of the former.
Henk J. Kiks (B-Quik): “We launched this programme as we want to develop a future Super Car champion from within the company and I know that with the ambition, drive and motivation of our staff that although this is a really big objective it’s one that we can really can take a big punch at. The enthusiasm to be selected for the challenge was sky high and then when we got to the first stage the commitment has been tremendous and everyone has worked hard over three days and given it their all. The speed at which they learnt, their application and developed skills reflect very well on the world class training programmes that underpin the success we have at B-Quik and we have instilled in all our technicians. We came together not just as a company but as a family over the three days. I’m very proud of all our staff, big congratulations to the final twelve and big congratulations to everyone who took part and showed what they could do, everyone was a winner.”
Preeda Tantemsapya (Racing Spirit): “They came from different backgrounds and different experiences and only three or four had experience of karting, so it was a level way to start the process. We don’t only look for fast drivers and at ability, we look for people that have good manners, are not over confident, quick at learning, not too aggressive and also ones that are prompt and on time, we take all this into consideration. The twelve finalists have received a TRA cap and T-shirt as well as a manual to study before going to the next stage as they will then have to do classroom exercises and not just driving, study will account for 30% of the course while driving skills will be 70%. I think this three-day programme has given us good basis and allowed us to see what they have to offer. I think after this process we now have good guidelines and, surprisingly as most have no experience of karting, we saw them learning fast and dropping chunks of laptime each day. I was also very impressed how punctual they are for their sessions and there is a lot of enthusiasm.
