Super Trofeo Stories: Nattanid Leewattanavalagul and Decathorn Phukkarawut

Through its three continental championships, Lamborghini Super Trofeo stands above many as one of the world’s furthest-reaching and attractive one-make GT categories. Fresh off the back of its 10^th season of competition, Super Trofeo Asia attracted its largest grid during the 2024 season, with more and more nationalities represented.

The championship may have had its ups and downs since the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, but it has bounced back in fine style, offering plenty of competitors the perfect opportunity to start racing as motorsport eventually came out the other side.

Having amassed a stellar racing CV prior to the global lockdown, Thai drivers Nattanid Leewattanavalagul and Decathorn Phuakkarawut have since decided to team up together at YK Motorsport for their maiden season the Asian series this year, racing in the ultra-competitive Am class.

Up against the eventual class champion Changwoo “Brian” Lee, things were always going to be tough, but a fine second place in the final standings capped off an encouraging first foray into Super Trofeo Asia.

“Before joining Lamborghini Super Trofeo, I had already been racing for 10 years,” says Leewattanavalagul, who goes by the abbreviated anglicised Kat Lee. “I started racing because of my father, who used to race go-karts when he was younger. And when I was around 20 years-old, he asked if I wanted to race in go-karts too, but I was too old to race in karts, so we both tried some laps in a car and we both really enjoyed it!”

“I started racing properly in one-make series in Thailand, which was mainly 1500cc production cars to begin with before gradually moving up to bigger and faster cars. But for me, the real reason I fell in love with motorsport was with the TCR car that I bought to race in the TCR Thailand Series.”

“There, I learned the basics of racing and that allowed me to do some other racing and then move into GT4 with a Mercedes last year. It was still only in Thailand where we were racing, but for this year, we decided to go outside of Thailand to race, because we had done that already for 10 years.”

“So, the plan was for us to experience something different this year, to meet other drivers and race on other tracks. Our team manager [Pasarit Promsombat] raced in Super Trofeo in 2023 so he told us about the championship, and we liked it a lot.”

Having followed the championship throughout the 2023 season, Lee and Phukkarawut’s first outing in the 620hp Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 was certainly an eye opener, but it also gave the pairing a crucial learning curve.

Much like team-mate Lee, Phuakkarawut also started racing a decade ago and worked his way up the one-make ladder in Thailand before entering Super Trofeo.

“It was the first time I had ever driven a Lamborghini and first time in a GT car like this,” says Lee. So, it was a big surprise, quite difficult at the beginning because of the speed difference compared to the GT4, but it was so fun to drive.”

“This season, we’ve tried to do our best every race weekend, but Brian was really fast this year, so it has been quite difficult to fight against him. We finished second in the championship, which is still a good result, but it wasn’t quite what we were hoping to achieve at the start of the year.”

Lee and Phu started the year in the best possible fashion, by claiming victory on their first outing at Sepang in Malaysia, before finishing second behind Brian Lee in race two. And while their main title rival had starred in the early part of the season, with sensational overall front-running pace, it was the consistency of Lee and Phu which meant they led the standings at the halfway point of the campaign.

A pair of second places and then a second race win in Korea helped their cause, before slipping back in the latter part of the season.

Nevertheless, runner-up in the standings to a driver of Brian Lee’s stature is no mean feat and the duo feel like there is unfinished business ahead of a potential return to the series in 2025.

“As for the future, we don’t know. Our team manager always wants us to try different cars so if we won the championship this year, the plan would have been to move on to something else. But we will see!”

For Lee, having raced locally for a decade, this year presented a different kind of challenge in racing across borders. It is something she has revelled in all year.

“The best thing has been racing outside of Thailand, but it’s also been hard,” explains Lee. “When we arrive at a new track, we have only the official tests before the weekend and then go straight into practice and qualifying. So, this has been a challenge because you don’t get so much time to get used to the new circuit. But discovering new countries and tracks has been a good experience.”

Phu adds: “The aim before the season was for us to enjoy our racing and learn the championship, and also to be as competitive as possible. I’m really satisfied that we did that and fought for the championship which is the main goal, and I also love the car too!”

It’s clear that both drivers love their racing, although perhaps it is Lee who cannot get away from the thrills and spills of motorsport. When not racing a GT car on the circuit, she can be found in the passenger seat in another kind of racing car.

“When I am not driving a GT car, I am actually a co-driver in a rally car, we participate in endurance rallies in Thailand, and it is a lot of fun,” says Lee.
“Actually, the driver I sit beside is Pasarit our team manager. He can drive anything, so I don’t need to worry about what he is doing, I just need to read what is written in front of me and I think it’s great fun.”

Unfortunately for Phu, his time out of the car is slightly more conventional, albeit almost as fast paced.

“I am a working man when I am not racing, but this is also good for the balance,” says Phu. “I work in property management in Phuket so I am very busy all of the time, but it is still nice to find the time to race.”