Photo: Ben BarkerCraig Baird secured second place in todays first race of the Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia weekend, part of the support category for the V8 Supercar round in Sydney. Baird has firmed his position at the top of the outright standings with two races remaining for the season, while his nearest challengers for the title, Jonny Reid and Daniel Gaunt, placed third and fourth, respectively.
Ben Barker has taken his maiden victory in the opening race, with Elite Class driver Max Twigg showing another strong performance.
British driver Barker, who now lives in Sydney’s seaside suburb of
Manly, secured pole position early in the day, but trailed series leader
Craig Baird after the start of the opening 12-lap race.
The safety car was soon called to
recover the stranded car of Steven Richards, who suffered clutch issues
at the start. After the restart Barker regained the lead and pulled away
from Baird to eventually claim his first race win of the season.
“I’ve been waiting the whole season
for this win and I’m stoked to get it in the last round, and at my new
home circuit,” said Barker.
“Getting a race win was definitely
one of the goals for the year, but we were realistic as there are a lot
of experienced Porsche drivers and this is only my first year in a
tin-top car.
“I’m now confident going into tomorrow. The car was great and I’m in the right head space, so we’ll see what we can do.”
Michael Patrizi finished the race in fifth, while Carrera Cup newcomer Nick Foster scored an impressive sixth place on debut.
“I managed to move up a few places
from the start to eventually finish sixth. I’m very happy with that
result and hopefully we can hang on the guys at the front a little bit
more tomorrow,” said Foster.
Twigg finished the race in seventh
ahead of Elite Class rivals Paul Kelly, James Koundouris, Theo
Koundouris and Marc Cini in what was a very entertaining battle, and
suggested his season is finishing on a ‘good note’.
“We were baulked at the start after
Steven Richards had an issue and that lost us a couple of places to Paul
Kelly and Nick Foster, and by then the main group had got away from us.
I thoroughly enjoy the race, and racing with Nick Foster was good; he’s
taken to the car exceptionally well,” said Twigg.
“We’ve got the Elite Class win tied up now and our race pace was good so we’re finishing on a good note.”
Porsche City Index Carrera Cup
Australia will hold its final two races of the season at the Sydney
Telstra 500 on Sunday December 04.
Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia standings with two races remaining
Outright - Top 5
1. Craig Baird 944
2. Daniel Gaunt 881
3. Jonny Reid 810
4. Steven Richards 792
5. Ben Barker 695
Elite Class - Top 5
1. Max Twigg 1004
2. James Koundouris 772
3. Paul Kelly 697
4. Theo Koundouris 596
5. Damien Flack 582
