Buriram United International Circuit
Hilma Kolin
The GT World Challenge is a global racing series contested across four continents: America, Europe, Australia, and Asia throughout the year. Thailand, alongside Malaysia, Japan, and China, serves as one of the hosts for the competition in Asia.
In Asia, the competition spans 7 circuits, with the first leg hosted by Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on April 18-21. Thailand is the venue for the second leg, before the series moves on to Japan, with the third, fourth, fifth and sixth legs taking place at Sportsland SUGO on June 7-9, at Fuji International Speedway on June 21-23, at Suzuka Circuit on July 5-7, and at Okayama International Circuit on August 23-25, before wrapping on September 13-15 at Shanghai Audi International Circuit.
For the second leg of the competition in Thailand, the official program will commence with practice sessions on Friday, May 10. Qualifying rounds will be held on Saturday, May 11, followed by the first race in the afternoon of the same day. The second race will then take place on Sunday, May 12.
Nittaya Kerdchanthuek, director of the Office of the Professional Sports Committee, Sports Authority of Thailand, noted that Thailand stands to benefit in multiple ways from hosting the Super Car event, which combines top-tier global racing brands. This allows Thai motorsport enthusiasts to witness such events without travelling abroad, while inspiring up-and-coming professional racers, fostering tourism, promoting Thailand's image domestically and internationally, and sustaining economic growth.
Benjamin Franasovici, general manager of Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS, stated that while the previous season was already significant, the 2024 season promised to be even more impressive with over 33 racers from 8 factory teams, marking the highest participation in the competition's history. He emphasised the uniqueness of the Asian continent's competition, highlighting its scale and stature compared to European events.
Chotchanok Chidchob, director of International Activities at Chang International Circuit, described the GT World Challenge Asia as the largest international series of supercar racing events being held at the circuit in 2024. He added that the past season had been exhilarating despite the two-year absence of GT World due to the Covid-19 pandemic and guaranteed that this year's competition would be just as thrilling and enjoyable as before.
This is one of the newest racing venues in Asia as it was opened in October of 2014. Motorsport is relatively popular in Thailand and the country needed another venue since Bira Circuit was probably the only proper circuit. At the same time, Chang International Circuit propelled Thailand to the international stage of motorsport after it was rated as FIA Grade 1 and FIM Grade A track.
The clockwise-run track designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, (who created most of the modern Formula 1 circuits) is 4.554 km long and has (just) 12 turns. Full capacity of the circuit is 100.000 spectators with grandstand which can accommodate 50.000 spectators. Most of the venue could be seen from the grandstand which makes the complete atmosphere even more exciting. Interestingly, the garages are located under the grandstand. The circuit is suitable for the night racing because the floodlights around the track are built to meet the highest FIA standards.
Chang International Circuit has six layouts but most of them are designed mainly for the lower ranks of motorsports and some national championships. Major events at Chang International Circuit so far were the World Touring Cars Championship races, Super GT, TCR International Series, as well the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, Asian Le Mans Series and many other. This venue also was the host of some big concerts and other non-racing events.
Daiki Sasaki currently holds the lap record, which is 1:25.441 . He set that time during the Super GT championship race in 2014. At the same time, that race was the first event at Buriram and it was a real spectacle with the crowd of almost 130.000 people in the stands and around the track.
Generally, all the events are well attended, including the motorcycle races. The World Superbike Championship debuted at Chang International Circuit in March of 2015 and track was hailed by most of the drivers and was described as the fast, challenging, but not too demanding, with two very long straights.
However, the circuit in Buriram has everything it takes to be considered as the top motorsports venue but it still needs to attract some really big international series in the foreseeable future in order to establish itself as one of the most important racing spots in Asia.
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