Fabian Schiller already carried a winner’s trophy when he returned from Japan in December last year. At the second event of the Asian Le Mans Series on the Grand Prix track of Fuji, the Troisdorf resident achieved a brilliant debut into the LMP2-category of the sports car series. In cooperation with the Swiss Team Race Performance he was directly able to achieve a competent victory. The Rhinelander would like to repeat this result next weekend in Buriram/Thailand.

Even though, being the reigning champion of the Renault Sport Trophy, Schiller already proved that he is an outstanding sports car driver, the switch to the open Le Mans-prototype was anything but easy. Additionally, the decision regarding the start at the Asian winter series was made very late, which left the son of the Ex-Le Mans-team leader Hardy Schiller from Siegburg only little time to test the new vehicle. But team leader Urs Meyer knew since Fabian’s title win at the Renault series what a huge talent he had found in the driver born in Bonn and was more than reassured due to the victory of his protégé in Japan.

At the Chang International Circuit in Buriram/Thailand, the 19-year-old rookie now has another chance to drive to the front of the field and maybe even take part in the fight for the title, even though he had to miss the kick-off event of the Asian Le Mans Series at the end of October in Zhuhai (China) due to overlapping appointments. The 4.554km long race track in the Muang District should be convenient for the Eschmar resident, because it’s a highly modern and quite flowing track that was designed, like many other tracks all over the world, by the popular German architect Hermann Tilke and was inaugurated at the end of 2014. The drivers have to tackle twelve bends overall during every lap but there is also a long straight passage where the drivers can theoretically achieve a top speed of up to 135km/h.

After his start in Thailand, Schiller is going to stay in Asia: Only two weeks later the finale of the Asian Le Mans Series is going to take place on the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia that is known from Formula 1. The Troisdorf resident is going to plan his next career step only after this event. Maybe he can already achieve his big goal this year: Starting at the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans.

„After my victory in Fuji of course I’m now travelling to Thailand pretty optimistically“, says the 19-year-old rookie. “The switch from a closed sports car to the LMP2-prototype worked perfectly. I’ve felt very comfortable in the car from the beginning and was able to keep up with the fastest lap times. I was especially happy to be able to confirm the trust that Urs Meyer has put in me. Now I’m going to give it my all to make sure that things keep going this successfully for Race Performance and me in Buriram and to be able to add another trophy to my collection.”

Text: F. Wagner / Schiller Motorsport – Fotos: Team Race Performance / COM-MEDIA