Craft-Bamboo Racing wins round four of GT Asia, but is disqualified

Craft-Bamboo Racing has formally confirmed its intention to appeal against the disqualification of car #97 from GT Asia Series round four race held at the Autopolis International Circuit. The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 driven by the pairing of Frank Yu (HKG) and Richard Lyons (GBR) initially took the chequered flag for the team’s first race win this season. The team was later excluded from the race classification due to a pit-stop infringement and subsequent black flag.

The team now has 72 hours, after serving its notice of appeal against the stewards’ decision to disqualify the car, to process its application.

It was a weekend filled with ups and downs for the team, just after celebrating the win, the team was informed of the decision by the stewards.

Richard Coleman, CEO of Craft-Bamboo Racing says of the weekend, “the team performed very well today and in my view clearly won the race. In full view of all the facts, I am sure the original result will stand.

“The #97 car was issued a drive through penalty but this was rescinded, after the race this offence was dealt with by a minor fine. There was a mix up in communication and the car was shown the black flag in error. I am sure when the full facts are established, the result will be reinstated and we will all shake hands before the next event at Fuji.”

Craft-Bamboo Racing ran two cars for the weekend, with car #99 driven by GT Asia Series first timers, Carlo Van Dam (NED) and Tanart Sathienthirakul (THA). The duo showed their abilities over the weekend with strong finishes, finishing fourth during Saturday’s race and ninth on Sunday.

Their race on Sunday would have turned out better had it not been for a pit-stop melee, when the team in the next pit blocked Van Dam’s exit after taking over the car from Sathienthirakul. Van Dam was proud of his student driver, whom he has been coaching for ten years, in his first attempt at racing in the GT category.

“Tanart started the race for us. He had a good start but then he made a few mistakes, lost some positions and was stuck behind the number three car which lost us a lot of time and then he made another mistake. Anyway, he is a rookie driver so it’s okay.

“We lost time during the pit-stop and I tried to make it up on the track and I managed to but it was not enough to get on the podium, otherwise it would have been a podium” Van Dam.

Van Dam took over the car in ninth but despite his best efforts, he was not able to catch up to the pack ahead of him to make up any positions.

For Sathienthirakul, the experience far outweighs the results and he is looking forward to his next GT race in the future. “Apart from the mistakes, I think my time was quite consistent which, was a good thing. Overall I enjoyed the experience, it was my first GT race and I had to get used to the car, to the rolling start. I just need to learn from this and keep moving forward.”

Pending the outcome of the appeal, the race result, with the Clearwater Racing duo, Rob Bell and Hiroshi Hamaguchi in car #32 being promoted to first, remains provisional.

The team will take a very short break before heading to Fuji International Circuit this 11th to 13th July.

Craft-Bamboo Racing was formed as the result of a merger between two renowned race teams - GT and endurance series participants Craft Racing AMR and touring car series participants Bamboo Engineering - to make Craft-Bamboo Racing. The partnership was announced early April, prior to its first outing at the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Europe.

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s campaign in the 2014 GT Asia Series can only be made possible with the continued support of the team sponsors; Gravity Partnership, POAD, Ravenol, Racerlink, Tunewear and Vortex Racewear.

Craft-Bamboo Racing