Tin tussles with Vettel in Bangkok

Local rising star Tin Sritai says hosting a Formula One race here would turbo-charge Thailand’s interest in motor sports, after a disappointingly small crowd turned up for the star-studded Race of Champions in Bangkok.

Less than 1,000 fans witnessed the opening ceremony on Saturday night at the 50,000-capacity Rajamangala National Stadium despite the appearance of the world’s best drivers including current and former F1 world champions Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher and MotoGP legend Jorge Lorenzo. But more fans showed up later and eventually filled almost half the arena in support of Tin and team-mate Nattavude Charoensukawattana in the ROC of Nations Cup, which was won by the German team for a sixth straight year.

Tin, a 23-year-old touring-car racer from Khon Kaen, commented that the event was still new to fans, but said that a Formula 1 Grand Prix in Thailand would stir up huge potential public interest in motor sport.

“Local fans are unfamiliar with tournament as this is its first time in Thailand. But more people showed up on the second night and there should be even more tonight [Sunday]. The same thing happened to the Thailand Premier League, but now stadiums are packed all the time. If we hosted an F1 race here, people would definitely be more interested in motor sports too,” said the current Asian Touring Car winner.

However, Tin says he would prefer a permanent F1 track for any future Thailand Grand Prix, rather that the street circuit that is currently being mooted for 2014.

“Two years is probably not long enough to build a permanent stadium, but a motor-racing stadium would be very useful for pro drivers to practice and develop our skills on, as our country doesn’t have one now,” said Tin, who cited lack of experience as part of the reason for his 10-minute gap behind Vettel – 1:29.42 to 1:19.82 – in their Group B round-robin on Saturday night.

“To be honest, I’m not familiar with this type of [ROC] car and gears. The track was slippery for me and I couldn’t accelerate too fast, but Vettel was driving so smoothly. But it was exciting and fantastic fun and I’ve learned a lot from these star drivers,” added Tin, who scored Thailand’s single point in the Nations Cup with a win over Australia’s five-time MotoGP World champion Mick Doohan – 1:19.15 to 1:20.17.

“I had no idea I was winning until I heard the crowd cheering. It was an amazing atmosphere. I wouldn’t have been good to finish the group without a point,” said Tin who went up against Vettel, Lorenzo and Doohan in last night’s Race of Champions for individual drivers.

On Saturday night, Team Germany’s Schumacher and Vettel added to their incredible run of success by winning their sixth consecutive ROC Nations Cup title. Legends of world motor sport teamed up in pairs to battle for national pride. 

They raced a mix of cars – including the Audi R8 LMS, VW Sirocco, Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo and the Toyota GT86.

To cap a busy night of action, Schumacher and Vettel prevailed in the final against Team France’s Sébastien Ogier and Romain Grosjean. First Schumacher defeated Grosjean then Vettel beat rally ace Ogier in a “battle of the Sebs”.

In all, the German duo won an incredible 10 out of 10 on the night, matching their combined total of F1 world championships and notching up their sixth ROC Nations title.

“This is a historic day. It was already very special to win five times in a row but this new record just feels great,” said Schumacher. 

“The Race of Champions is a nice event with a nice set-up, there are great guys here and tough competition. 

“We were pretty scared of the guys on Team France but in the end they lost time in the final heats so we were lucky to be consistent the whole way through.”

Vettel added: “Even Michael hasn’t managed six titles in a row before, so this is something special. … We all love coming here as it’s a special event. It’s a privilege and an honour to race with these guys. There’s one thing that connects us all, which is racing. Now I can look forward to tomorrow and hopefully stay in the competition as long as possible. I’ve tried that for the last five years and haven’t succeeded yet so it would be nice to put my name on that trophy too.”

Beaten finalists Team France also had a fine evening, topping their group before defeating Team All Stars (Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen and MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo) by two heats to nil in the semi-final.

In the semi-finals Team Germany beat Team Australia’s Jamie Whincup and Mick Doohan by two heats to nil. Team Australia joined them in the semi-finals with three victories: two for Whincup, one for Doohan.

Following their triumph in Friday’s ROC Asia, Team India’s Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok failed to make it beyond the group stages this time. They took a win apiece but it wasn’t enough against the might of Germany and Australia.

Host nation Team Thailand fought hard but they were unable to progress beyond the group stages. Tin nonetheless gave the home fans something to cheer with the victory over Doohan.

Team Americas were unlucky to miss out on qualification on a count-back of fastest times as they also ended up with three wins courtesy of Benito Guerra (2) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (1). 

Team Great Britain (Andy Priaulx and David Coulthard) missed a semi-final spot after both fell foul of penalties for touching the barriers – though they still took one win each.