Formula for success

It’s been 60 odd years since Thailand boasted a driver in Formula One racing and now there’s a possibility that the country could produce another. His name is Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik and the 19-year-old Thai-Norwegian is currently topping the leader board in the 2014 F3 series.

Since Prince Birabongse Phanudej Bhanubandh, or Prince Bira as he was better known, competed in the highest echelon of motor sports in the 1950s, no Thai has never come close to the world’s grandest car race. But the fully committed Stuvik is determined to end that long drought and is working hard towards achieving his dream.

Now in his second year in the Euroformula Open or F3, the 19-year-old, who drives for the Italian RP Motorsport team, has dominated six out of the 10 races he has entered and is in contention to win the overall title with only six races at three circuits remaining. The teenager started his year with a victory in May in the second race at the Nurburgring in Germany  and quickly followed up with a win in the second race in Algarve, Portugal in June. He finished strongly in the races at Jerez, Spain in June and at Silverstone, England in July, propelling him to the top of the standings with a total 188 points, 20 ahead of his rival, Spaniard Alex Palou.

“I’ve done 10 races this year and I have won six which means I’m leading the championship. There are still 3 events and six races to go but I’m quite confident I can produce good results in the last three to win the championship,” says Stuvik who last year had to settle for second place, nine points behind victor Ed Jones of England.

Though the year-end top position on the podium is not far off, it is not the ultimate goal of the young racer, who was born to a Thai mother and Norwegian father. He has set his sights on moving up to GP2 next year and taking one more step towards his ultimate goal.

In fact Stuvik could have joined that category already following his successful test with GP2 team, Rapax, late last year. However, financial constraints prevented them from reaching an agreement: about Bt70 million a year is needed to compete in GP2 compared to the Bt20 million required for F3.  As a result, Stuvik was forced to remain in this lower-ranked competition.

“It’s a bit of a shame that we couldn’t go this year. If finance wasn’t a problem, I could have been competitive in GP2. But looking on the bright side, I have a lot more experience now and I hope I can do even better when I enter,” says the Thai racer who lives and trains in Tuscany, a more convenient location for competing in Europe.

Team Stuvik is currently focused on garnering more support from the driver’s current sponsors The Pizza Company, Singha Corporation and Dacon Inspection in the hope that this will grease the wheels for his transition to GP2 in the upcoming season.

“We are working on that right now. We still have to talk to all the sponsors and hopefully we will find new sponsors. But it’s a big step. Now we are using Bt20 million for F3 and moving to GP 2 will cost three times as much. So we definitely need more sponsors to join this journey.”

Despite his passion for the sport, Stuvik stands little chance of getting rich from the lower echelons of motor racing as neither F3 nor GP2 pay a salary nor any prize money. The winner gets a trophy and that’s it. The youngster says he feels bad about emptying his dad Martin’s bank account, adding that it has cost the family millions of baht to support his career. That’s why the young gun is fully committed to training, seven days a week, and is so focused that he barely spends his life off track, hoping one day he will repay his father.

“It’s high risk and high reward. We put a lot in and if everything works we can get a lot out of it. I’ve have been driving since I was four and we have put so much time into it that stopping now would be a complete waste of almost my entire life,” Stuvik says.

But even with all the hard work, Stuvik has experienced some lows, no more so than during his first year of competing in Europe back in 2011 when he had to settle for 28th place in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season.

“It was a difficult transition between winning Asian Formula Renault and being on the podium in every race to coming to Europe and not getting good results, not even getting into the top 10 in the first year. But with persistence and dedication plus the support from my family, I improved a lot in the second year. I was really strong in 2013 and have repeated those successes this year as well.”

Although motor sport is not widely popular in the Kingdom, the completion of the Buriram United International Circuit soon, the country’s first international standard venue, should create the awareness of motor racing and generate more fans, especially if Stuvik realises his dreams and makes it into F1.

“I want to be as close to F1 as possible so that when they look for a Thai driver to go to F1, there’s no other choice because I am the only one who is close enough and experienced enough to represent Thailand in F1,” he concludes.

 

RACING HIGHLIGHTS

_ 2010 Asian Formula Renault Challenge Champion

_ 2010 Formula Renault 2.0 Asia – Winter Cup Champion

_ 2013 European F3 Open Runner-Up

_ 2014 Current Leader of European F3 Open