Motorsport: Baird sets the pace in two classes

Craig Baird at the Porsche GT3 championship series. Photo / Supplied

The fourth round of the New Zealand MotorSport championships at Timaru's Levels International Raceway was Craig Baird's weekend.

He won four of the six races he contested and now leads both the BNT V8 and Porsche GT3 series - the first time a single driver has led two premier New Zealand racing classes.

"It doesn't feel any different, you've just got to get on and do it race by race," said Baird. "That last race [wet reverse-grid V8] was a tough, tough race. It's difficult to pass when some of the other drivers hog the inside line and think it's their God-given right to stick their nose in the wrong places.

"I'm not going to put the commentator's curse on myself and at the end of the day you've got to be leading at the right end of the season.

"It's great to be leading both classes at three-quarter distance in the championship, but you've got to be leading them at the end."

John McIntyre, the V8 series leader heading into the weekend's racing, left a wet Timaru with no points. He wrote off his car on the first lap of the first race when he spun into the tyre wall.

Baird drove a steady, mature race, eventually forcing a mistake from early leader Tim Edgell, allowing him to take the win with Eddie Bell in third.

"At least we went out leading," said a disappointed McIntyre. "There was an issue with the track and the standing water in places. I hit it and lost control and then the other cars did the same thing. This is probably the worst round I've ever had in my motor racing history."

McIntyre managed to lease Haydn MacKenzie's hot lap car for the remaining two races, but came up short with carburettor problems in race two and a broken throttle cable in race three.

In race two, Baird romped out to a big lead and was never threatened. Tim Edgell finished a lonely second and Bell led the rest of the field home.

A reverse-grid wet third race brought about the normal door-banging early on with Angus Fogg and Paul Manuell wearing the worst of it after an incident with John Hepburn.

The race soon settled down, with Clark Proctor taking the win from Andrew Anderson and Andy Booth. After four rounds Baird now leads the championship from Eddie Bell with McIntyre dropping to third.

Baird resumed control of the Porsche GT3s with his first win in six starts in race one, leaving David Reynolds and Daniel Gaunt in his wake. Reynolds got the jump on Baird in race two but was eventually hunted down and passed at the halfway stage. Baird went on to take a comfortable win from Reynolds and Daniel Gaunt.

The reverse top-six grid for race three ended Baird's dominance for the weekend where he could only manage third behind Courtney Letica and Matt Halliday.

Mitch Evans won the first TRS race from the experienced Estonian Sten Pentus and Daniel Jilesen. In race two, Earl Bamber managed to get past Pentus mid-race to take the win with Stefan Webling in third.

In yet another top-six reverse-grid third race, Bamber launched himself from sixth to third by the first corner, and when Evans fell off the track early on, the race was Bamber's for the taking. Evans caught Bamber on the last lap and in a naive overtaking attempt, lost control under brakes and smacked into the tyre wall. Bamber went on to take the win from Andrew Waite and Jilesen.

Pentus still leads the series but Bamber has cut his lead to 32 points.

Martin Short continues to lead the Formula Fords, Ben Gallas now tops the Suzuki Swift class and Scott McKelvie has taken over the lead in the Production class.