The battle between Triple X Motorsport team mates and championship rivals Daniel Gaunt and Craig Baird has seen the chase for the 2010/2011 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge title narrow following today’s 30-lap race near Taupo.
Starting the weekend 38 points apart after five of six championship rounds, the pair are now separated by 23 with two races left to decide the title.
Having led the series since the start in early November last year, 26-year-old Gaunt in the MPD VnC Cocktails Porsche 997 finished third in today’s race at the Taupo circuit, behind defending champion Craig Baird in the ZM Mad Butcher Porsche 997 and Jonny Reid.
Strong in the early stages of the race, Gaunt became physically drained, an illness sapping the needed edge to challenge for second position:
“The name of the game is finishing at the moment; it’d be nice to have a little less pressure, for the last two, but we’ve still got a good lead with finishing third today,” said Gaunt.
“Bairdo and Jonny were driving really well, but I didn’t feel 100% and although we were going really well, it didn’t quite match what I was giving.”
For Baird, who set fastest in this morning’s qualifying, it was a long climb to the front of the race after being swallowed at the start. Battling lap after lap with rival Reid, the defending champion was able to put enough pressure on to squeeze past in the dying laps.
“My car was stronger in some areas and Reid’s was stronger in others, so I kept driving pretty straight as I could see his style could potentially offer a window of opportunity through a type of tyre wear. We were bumper-to-bumper at the beginning of the race, we were bumper-to-bumper coming in to the pit-stop and going out – there was just nothing in it the whole race. So it was great to just have no mistakes and get past for a really hard fought race,” said the Gold Coast based Kiwi.
Fourth, Hamilton’s Ant Pedersen improved on his qualifying result in the VnC Cocktails Porsche 997, with a dramatic turn of speed to still be in touch with the front pack after the 100kilometre distance. Sixth, the Gardiner Motorsport Porsche 997 of Auckland’s Hugh Gardiner was testimony to his goal of finishing, without damage.
In tenth was Michael Morton’s Outlaws Bar Porsche 997, with the Mad Butcher Carpet One Porsche 997 of Whangarei’s Scott Harrison retired early in the race as a precaution against a suspected mechanical noise.
Concluding the series championship and battle for position, Sunday’s two races start with a ten-lapper in the morning followed by the top-six reverse grid 14-lap race starting at 3:14pm.
