Pasin Lathouras is pleased to confirm that he will take part in Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup for a second consecutive year, once again driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 for AF Corse.
The 23-year-old Thai will again be paired with Italians Michele Rugolo and Alessandro Pier Guidi meaning the driver and car lineup will go into the 2017 season unchanged – offering Pasin a strong platform to build on with his rookie year now behind him.
This year will represent Pasin’s fourth racing in Europe, having contested the British GT Championship (2014), International GT Open (2015) and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup (2016). Highlights of those three years include winning the Spa 24 Hours Pro-Am, Vice Champion in International GT Open and runner up in the Paul Ricard 1000 km.
Last year Pasin stepped up to the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, the world’s biggest and most competitive series for ‘GT’ sportscars, and it proved to be a tough but rewarding season. Standouts included that superb performance in the Paul Ricard 1000 km, but also starting races from pole positon and being in the thick of the action at most rounds. It was targeted to be a learning year and was a big success in those primary terms and although results didn’t always come and the BoP didn’t always suit the 488 GT3, driving alongside Michele and Alessandro again for another year, it’s a lineup that’s very well bedded in, has bags of potential and is now ready to deliver results. Just like last year the crew will run in the PRO class.
The season follows a broadly similar pattern to last year and after kicking off with the Official Test Day at Paul Ricard this month, the action starts at Monza (Italy) before moving onto Silverstone (U.K.), both are three hour races, while next up it’s Paul Ricard for the 1000 km event. Then it’s back to the Spa 24 Hours (for Pasin, his third time) before the season will wrap up in Barcelona, with another 3-hour race, which is also the only circuit change on the calendar. However, the Thai driver will arrive with track knowledge as he raced on the Spanish F1 track in 2015 during his season in International GT Open where he took a trip to the podium after finishing as runner up.
Pasin will be supported this year by NaRaYa, LaLaMa, NARA by NaRaYa, Tourism Authority of Thailand and Sports Authority of Thailand.
Pasin Lathouras: “It’s great to be back in Blancpain GT and with the same lineup of drivers, team and car, I think we have a good year of gelling with the new car behind us and we are well positioned to push for the podium. I have to thank AF Corse for getting this together, it’s good to be back with them, I’ve spent my whole sportscar career with this team and they have really helped me come on as a driver. Michele and Alessandro drove superbly last year so I think we should be fast out of the blocks. Thanks to everyone that has helped put this together and now I look forward to getting back on track and delivering results.”
