This week was a busy and demanding one for Natasha Seatter as she travelled to Korea for her GT Asia debut, and the young Malaysian certainly didn’t let the daunting task overshadow her weekend, instead powering through in the most professional manner and proving on the track that she is a force to be reckoned with.

Racing for one of Asia’s most successful GT teams- Craft Bamboo Racing- and driving for the first time the Aston Martin Vantage GT3, on an unfamiliar circuit, Natasha had a lot to learn from the moment she touched down and she wasted no time getting stuck into learning from one of Asia’s best drivers Darryl O’Young.

Friday Practice was taken in stride and after only a handful of laps to get use to this new machine Natasha were just beating the lap times benchmarked for her.

Teaming with another newcomer, hometown hero Tacksung Kim, Natasha took to qualifying putting in more than impressive runs and helping the team to secure P7 out of 20 cars.

Race one on Saturday saw teammate Tacksung lose a position at the start but maintaining a solid 11th up until the driver change. Rejoining the track after a quick driver change Natasha found herself up to 7th but was caught in a safety car period, which bunched up the pack. Natasha was then radioed that they had been given a drive through penalty, which she served immediately, following the safety car through the pits. She came back in 10th but this only sparked more vigor from Natasha and she quickly pulled in the cars in front, passing two opponents in the closing stages to bring the car home in P8.

Natasha’s performance in race one was so impressive that she awarded the “Best performing Driver” award from GT Asia organizers.

Now used to the car, Natasha started race two on Sunday from 6th position and again with a lightning start she kept her nerve heading into the inside line around the tight turn 1. It only took two laps before Natasha made a superb and unexpected pass on the Aston Martin of Max Wiser through turn 13, which brought the whole pit lane to their feet.

This move gave Natasha P5 and hot on the heels of her team boss Frank Yu in the Aston Martin “97”. The battle with Frank was tight and Natasha did a great job foxing him, occasionally taking a look on the inside of corners, but Frank’s experience wouldn’t let her through. The battle allowed Max Wiser to close the gap and eventually pass both cars moving him up to fourth but not before Natasha retook 5th from him along the way in a stunning exchange of attack and counter attack.

In the closing laps of the first stint before driver change, the battle for fifth was still anyone’s. Making a tentative move on Frank around her favored turn 13, Natasha got too close, lost aero grip and she spun out. Having to wait for a safe moment to rejoin the circuit Natasha found herself demoted to P11 but quickly regained a place to pit in P10.

With Tacksung taking over the car for the last half of the race, he was able to salvage a position and finish the race in 9th

Although disappointed with her spin, Natasha whole weekend was very positive and major step in her career that once again proved that no car is too difficult for her and that she can drive the powerful GT3 cars at a leading pace and battle with seasoned professionals.

This debut performance in GT Asia only makes the Asian motorsport industry wait in anticipation for position.

Natasha: “This experience all week has been fantastic, and I really want to give a huge thanks to all the crew at Craft Bamboo Racing, Frank Yu, Darryl O’Young and Pipa Arbee for making feel welcome and comfortable, and more importantly teaching me as much as possible about the car and racing in this series. Apart from my spin in race two, I am very pleased with how I handled the car and the level of racing I showed everyone that I am capable of. I can’t wait until the next time I compete in this series.”

You can follow Natasha’s progress on her website www.natasha-racing.com, on Facebook www.facebook.com/natashaseatterracing and stay up to date with the happenings in GT Asia Series at www.pittalkasia.com.