This weekend’s fifth and penultimate round of the 2009/10 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge at Manfeild brings to a climax the championship aspirations of Craig Baird and the six-car Triple X Motorsport team.
With a 135 point lead for the title, 39-year-old Baird has no plans to conserve his pace aboard the #1 Mad Butcher ZM Porsche 997 during the three-race weekend held at the Feilding circuit. The Queensland based Kiwi needs a massive 300 point buffer heading in to the final round to be secure for the title. Potentially able to reap 225 points for the weekend, it will be team-mate Daniel Gaunt in the #3 Placemakers Hampsta Porsche 997, who will be putting the most pressure on the title champion.
Currently third in the rankings, Gaunt will be focusing solely on the Porsche category for the weekend that includes the running of the New Zealand Grand Prix. Not out to defend the title he won with the team last year in the Toyota Racing Series category, the 25-year-old says the aim is victory.
“I don’t think consolidating is the way to go – we can still have a crack at race wins. The speed is there, being half-a-tenth off Craig Baird’s lap record time at the previous Timaru round. We’ve just got to get track position by improving qualifying – that sets you up for the rest of the weekend,” he said ahead of switching to a V8 Supercar the following weekend.
Similarly, Melbourne based David Reynolds in the #8 Hampsta Indians Bar Porsche 997 will be out to keep Baird from the top step. Having missed the first round of the series with a clash in his V8 Supercar programme, Reynolds had to concede his New Zealand title chase was over when he failed to finish the last race of the previous round.
Instead won by Auckland 21-year-old Courtney Letica in the #5 Altherm Porsche 997, his maiden victory secures his ability to stave off more experienced campaigners. Sixth in the current standings behind Triple X Motorsport team-mate Reynolds, Letica finished second overall for the Timaru race weekend held in late January.
Shadowing his team-mates, team principal Shane McKillen has the #2 VnC Cocktails Juice Bar Porsche 997 in ninth position with Christchurch car magnate Paul Kelly in the #90 Porsche 997 14th having missed a round in early January.
Starting the weekend with a clean time-sheet, the team have two practise sessions on the Friday afternoon before an opportunity to take competition winners for a hot-seat ride around the established 3.03 kilometre Manfeild circuit.
By late Friday, each car engineer will be directed on fine-tuning details by Technical Director Todd Bickerton according to the results of the MoTec on board data acquisition system. Mixed with the variable of weather, changes will establish an optimum suspension and handling setup. This enhances the driver’s ability to personally extract the best from the car by using the physics of lightest fuel load and minimum tyre wear for maximum performance. With a restriction of six tyres for the weekend’s racing, fuel is also dispensed sparingly to improve the car power-to-weight ratio, increasing overall speed.
Gridded for the first race according to fastest time set in the late-morning qualifying session, the 12-lap sprint starts from 5:20pm in the afternoon. Followed by a second 12-lap race on Sunday morning, the weekend concludes with the 16-lap top-six reverse grid race from 3:25pm.
2009/10 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge points after round three (of six) – top ten.
Pos Car No. Name Hometown Total
1 1 Craig Baird Queensland (Triple X) 1003
2 21 Matt Halliday USA 868
3 3 Daniel Gaunt Auckland (Triple X) 835
4 9 Jonny Reid Auckland 781
5 8 David Reynolds Melbourne (Triple X) 718
6 5 Courtney Letica Auckland (Triple X) 563
7 82 Andrew Bagnall Auckland 540
8 32 Mitch Cunningham Auckland 494
9 2 Shane McKillen Auckland (Triple X) 491
10 26 Simon McLennan Wellington 474
