B-Quik Racing is rounding out its best ever season of domestic racing by presenting one of our roster of Audi R8 LMS Cup racecars – that combined so superbly to win the Super Car GTM Plus Teams’ title this year, the most important and prestigious trophy in Thai motorsport – at the 34th Thailand International Motor Expo, which opens to the public today.
It really has been a racing season to remember. Thailand Super Series unveiled the new Super Car GTM “Plus” category for 2017, a big step up in the power stakes as it was reserved for FIA GT3 homologated racecars plus the latest breed of high performance ‘Cup’ cars such as the new Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo. Thailand’s headline racing category – Super Car – was suddenly even more mean and aggressive.
The stakes went up as GT3 cars hit the entry list. For B-Quik Racing it would be a holding year, we would enter with our ‘Model Year 2011’ Audi R8 LMS Cup racecars for the inaugural season ahead of a machinery upgrade in time for 2018 to be on the pace.
But this is a team used to winning, used to fighting and used to taking on the odds. We didn’t give up on the slender chances of title aspirations, despite the long odds and with our lead drivers Henk J. Kiks and Daniel Bilski digging in and fighting for every single point backed up by superb work from the crew we edged the B-Quik name to the top of the points classification and – somehow – kept hanging on there are the season rolled on.
We went into the final triple header weekend in Buriram in September with just a single point advantage at the top of the teams’ points table and that fight for ultimate glory culminated in Sunday’s third and final race of the weekend (the tenth and final race of the year). That race turned out to be one of the all-time classics of Thai racing history and in the pouring rain as other vaunted challenges fell apart our drivers sensationally delivered. Daniel passed every car on the track to win the race while Henk, forced to start from the pitlane, battled his up the order to deliver exactly the amount of points we needed to seal the title.
An incredible end to the year and the perfect way to sign off for the Audi R8 LMS Cup which we have raced for the last four years (2014-2017). It’s with a slightly damp eye that we say goodbye to Audi’s ‘Cup’ racecar as we have grown together as a team in the last four seasons. The roll call stands at three podiums including victory in South East Asia’s most prestigious sportscar race, the Sepang 12 Hours, namely that win coming last year after we had notched up a second place (2014) and third place (2015). Aside from that we have two important class wins in the hotly contested pan-Asian Audi R8 Cup championship, in the Amateur (2015) and the Masters (2016). That’ topped off with the Super Car GTM Plus teams’ title in Thailand Super Series (2017).
And our final race with the Audi R8 LMS Cup saw Daniel sign off the chapter with Super Car victory. That win also helped him to finish third in the Super Car GTM Plus Drivers’ championship, another excellent achievement bearing in mind how we tackled the year with an ‘interim’ car that simply couldn’t match its rivals in the new category.
So, as we send off our roster of these cars to new owners and upgrade for the 2018 Thailand Super Series season, it’s the perfect finale for one of these racers to be presented to the public at the Motor Expo, Bangkok’s headline international motor show.
The #26 Audi R8 LMS Cup, driven last year by Henk, takes pride of place on the Thailand Super Series booth at the Motor Expo where visitors can admire this winning machine over the next week and a half.
34th Thailand International Motor Expo show opens to the today (30 November) and is open to the public every day until 11 December from 1200-2200, except for Saturdays and Sundays when it’s open from 1100-2200. The #26 B-Quik Racing Audi R8 LMS can be found on the Thailand Super Series booth, no. T06.
