2010/02

Slick pit work by the International Motorsport Team helped Matt Halliday get the better of Triple X Motorsport teammates David Reynolds and Craig Baird in the third round’s first race of the 2009/10 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship at Invercargill's Teretonga Park this afternoon.

Young Australian driver Reynolds pipped both Baird and Halliday in qualifying, and Baird got the jump on Reynolds at the start of the double points 38 lap/100km Mad Butcher-sponsored mini-enduro race.

Come the race's compulsory pit stop, however - in which two crew members must change two tyres - the advantage swung Halliday's way.

Baird was the first of the front-running trio to take his pit stop with Reynolds and Halliday following soon after. When they returned to the track, however, the order was Halliday, Reynolds and Baird, LA-based international Halliday retaining the advantage until the chequered flag.

Reynolds closed what at one stage was a three second gap to less than a second in the closing laps but didn't get quite close enough to deny Halliday his second win of the 2009/10 Battery Town season.

Baird continued in third place, eventually crossing the finish line just over 18 seconds behind Reynolds but with a safe 21 second break back to the first of his other Triple X Motorsport teammates, Daniel Gaunt, who in turn had a comfortable buffer over Halliday's International Motorsport teammate Jonny Reid and Triple X Motorsport young gun Courtney Letica.

Reid led Letica early on but in this case it was Letica who had the better pit stop and Reid spent the second half of the race trying to get back in front. Eventually he found a way before easing away to cross the line just over half a second in front.

Gardiner had the edge over fellow Mothers 996 Cup category (for older 996 model GT3 Cup cars) drivers Simon Evans, Simon McLennan, Colin Caldwell and series debutant Allan Dippie in qualifying and was again a cut above them in the race, splitting 997 drivers McKillen and Andrew Bagnall in the finishing order.

Today's The Mad Butcher 100km mini enduro was the first of three races for the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge on the programme at the CRC200 New Zealand motorsport championship meeting at Teretonga Park this weekend. The second is a sprint race over 12 laps on Sunday morning, the third a reverse-top-six, 16 lap final in the afternoon.

1. David Reynolds 57.854 1. Matt Halliday 38.14.392

2. Craig Baird 57.861 2. David Reynolds +0.515

3. Matt Halliday 57.875 3. Craig Baird +18.793

4. Daniel Gaunt 58.307 4. Daniel Gaunt +21.767

5. Jonny Reid 58.311 5. Jonny Reid +31.472

6. Mitch Cunningham 58.815 6. Courtney Letica +32.472

7. Courtney Letica 59.057 7. Shane McKillen +1 lap

8. Shane McKillen +59.704 8. Hugh Gardiner +1 lap

9. Andrew Bagnall +59.861 9. Andrew Bagnall +1 lap

10. Hugh Gardiner +1.00.375 10. Simon McLennan +2 lap

11. Simon Evans 1.01.014 11. Allan Dippie +3 lap

12. Simon McLennan 1.01.089 12. Colin Caldwell + 4 laps

13. Colin Caldwell 1.03.990 dnf: Simon Evans, Mitch Cunningham

14. Allan Dippie 1.04.607 Fastest lap: David Reynolds 58.538