Race Day One:
So, i was fortunate enough to be invited by PattayaOne and Pattaya Today to tag along and watch the opening round of the F3 Asian Winter Series which was being held at Buriram International Circuit. More importantly, to watch a rare talent such as Rinus VeeKay dominate the track with his skilled and unique driving ability.
Rinus van Kalmthout is a Dutch racing driver, also known as Rinus VeeKay. He is the 2018 Champion of the Pro Mazda series, winning 7 of 16 races in his debut season. Rinus is the son of Marijn van Kalmthout, a gentleman racing driver in the BOSS GP series. Marijn van Kalmthout also still holds the lap record at Donington park, 0:57:221.
So we left Pattaya around 6 Am and got to the race circuit at 12:30 pm so we were in time to witness the first race in which Rinus powered to victory and secured some well deserved points. Although VeeKay suffered some problems with the clutch of his car and dropped back from third into fifth position. After some great battles with Ticktum, Ye and Ghiretti, VeeKay fought his way back into the lead, to drive away from the field and claim his first victory of the season in commanding style.
I had a chance to speak with VeeKay at the pits and although he was very humble and happy with his performance he had been worried before as car and engine troubles may have caused him to lose the race, however, being the skilled driver that he is, he battled through to secure 2 wins out of 2 on the opening day.
I would say that after a very very hot day, watching the races, warm-up, speaking to the drivers, it was an amazing day out. All drivers are very humble and are just so happy to be living a dream come true.
VeeKay comes across a very shy and nervous person, but once he is in the car and racing, nerves and fear go by the wayside and he turns into a very confident young man which is so good to see. He is also very happy to talk, have photos and does not look down on anyone.
I asked VeeKay what he thinks about as he is on the race line… What goes through his head… Is he scared or worried, and is answer was just simple, he doesn’t think about the race and has no fear.
It is quite amazing actually how much work goes on behind the scenes, how much work and how good all the pit crew are, one simple mistake and its game over.
About 5 Pm with the first race over myself and the PattayaOne/Pattaya Today staff headed to our hotel for the night, So was nice to end the night with some good conversation and pizza.
I was now quite excited for the second day as there are two races with VeeKay and a chance to watch some Le Mans cars control the track for 4 hours.
Race two was now upon us and VeeKay was starting pole position thanks to his fastest lap in race one. after a good battle Veekay had dominated and won his second race with the Red Bull driver comig in second and David Schumacher (son of Ralf Schumacher) clintching 3rd.
PattayaOne had an exclusive interview with Rinus VeeKay which can be seen below.
