*   2008/09 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship

 

 

 

    Rnd 5

 

 

 

    Manfeild

 

 

 

    Feilding

 

 

 

    Fri-Sun

 

 

 

   Feb 28-March 01  2009

 

 

 

28-02-09 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 1 REPORT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BAIRD MASTERS DIFFICULT CONDITIONS TO WIN FIRST PORSCHE GT3 CUP RACE

 

 

 

Defending series champions Craig Baird mastered difficult track conditions to win the first race of the weekend at the penultimate round of the 2008/09 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship at a rain-swept Manfeild Autocourse this afternoon.

 

Though his day did not start particularly well - being relegated from second to fourth place on the grid after a late qualifying session time was disallowed because it was set when the yellow flag was out - Baird was quickly up to second behind a fast-starting Daniel Gaunt when pole-man David Reynolds was slow away.

 

And after dispatching Gaunt with a daring side-by-side move through the Dunlop sweeper and down the start-finish straight Baird settled into a lead he was not to lose on lap three.

 

Reynolds tried - very hard - to make up for a less than perfect start, catching then swapping places with a hard-charging Ant Pedersen before eventually getting past and setting off after Gaunt then Baird.

 

But the closer he got to the race leader the harder it rained to the point where both drivers were no doubt relieved when the chequered flag eventually came out.

 

"I know I was," admitted Reynolds. "Obviously, I got a real, real bad start, dropped back to fourth, disputed third with Ant Pedersen, slowly caught then got past Daniel then slowly caught Craig.

 

"When I was behind him Craig made a few mistakes and I tried to round him up but then I made a few mistakes and he got. I caught him again but by then it was raining really hard, my windows started fogging up, I couldn't see where I was going and I was just glad to see the end of it to be honest."

 

Daniel Gaunt looked strong early on only to be slowed and eventually stopped by a puncture.

 

As he slipped down the field it was Ant Pedersen who inherited third place from a hard-charging Jody Vincent and closely following Jono Lester and Mark Russ but Pedersen was called into the pits for a stop-go penalty and ended up eighth.

 

That gave Vincent the final step on the podium behind Baird and Reynolds with Lester fourth, Mark Russ fifth and Rodney Forbes sixth.

 

Forbes' team boss Shane McKillen was seventh with Pedersen eighth and Rob Steele the first of the 996 category runners home in ninth.

 

This afternoon's race was the first of three for the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship contestants this weekend with a second 10 lap sprint race tomorrow morning and a longer 16-lap reverse top six grid final in the afternoon.

 

Ends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2008/09 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship Rnd 5 Manfeild Feilding Fri-Sun Feb 28-March 01 2009