Audi India racing talent Aditya Patel and Malaysian teammate Mitch Gilbert put in an impressive performance in the second round of the Blancpain GT Series in Asia by piloting their Audi R8 LMS for OD Racing at the Chang International circuit in Thailand on Sunday with Mitch Gilbert grabbing the final podium spot with only thirty seconds left on the clock. After a disappointing race on Saturday where the duo retired owing to damage caused by an incident on lap one, the pair made up for lost points by charging up the field in race 2 from 11th on the grid to finish a credible 3rd.
The Audi India backed driver got off to a flying start, passing three cars into turn one and then came out unscathed after a massive 5 car pile-up to find themselves in 4th spot at the end of lap one. After a brief safety car period, Patel found himself in a battle with Shaun Thong, eventually losing track position before handing the car over to Gilbert. Once again, Mitch had a job on his hands battling it out with Marchy Lee until the very end and moving up from 5th to 3rd in the dying moments of the race.
Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Patel said that in all honesty, he knows the weekend could’ve been so much better, but at the end of the day they all are racing and everybody wants to win. He and Mitch worked hard right from practice to be up on pace but unfortunately qualifying and race one didn’t go their way. The podium in race two is definitely what they needed to keep themselves in the game.