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Baird takes double Porsche victory

Saturday 18 April 2009, 4:51PM

By Triple X Motorsport

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With two wins from two starts, Triple X Motorsport driver Craig Baird has a perfect street-race record at Hamilton with tomorrow's top-six reverse-grid race to run.
With two wins from two starts, Triple X Motorsport driver Craig Baird has a perfect street-race record at Hamilton with tomorrow's top-six reverse-grid race to run. Credit: Sportpromedia.com
John McIntyre's first Porsche race with the Triple X Motorsport team has seen the former two-time V8s champion battle hard to finish sixth and fourth in today's two races at the Hamilton 400.
John McIntyre's first Porsche race with the Triple X Motorsport team has seen the former two-time V8s champion battle hard to finish sixth and fourth in today's two races at the Hamilton 400. Credit: Sportpromedia.com

HAMILTON

Today’s first two Porsche races in the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercar weekend have been dominated by Triple X Motorsport driver Craig Baird in the Barrons RV Taupo-ZM Porsche 997.

Unchallenged at the front of the field, the 38-year-old Queensland based Kiwi has led home the five-car team after two-12-lap races around the 3.4km street course in the Frankton business district.

“There wasn’t a lot of pressure – I just cruised really,” said Baird.

Today’s double victory and fastest lap time of 1min26.6812sec will put Baird back to sixth position for the final race on Sunday – the top-six reverse grid start.

“I was playing with driving lines a lot – as I’m not happy with the exit speeds of the car. So I was seeing how wide and narrow I could brake and stop – as it’s hard to pass round here and it gave me the chance to try things before tomorrow’s race.”

Following a fourth in this morning’s race, Daniel Gaunt in the Placemakers-Hampsta car finished third under perfect skies after a slow-start to his weekend.

“We moved forward and it was catch-up from qualifying where I missed out my best time when the session was red-flagged,” said Gaunt. “So we suffered for the first part of the weekend - hopefully we can get another podium result tomorrow.”

Gaunt will start tomorrow’s final 12-lap race from the second row.

Fourth this afternoon after finishing sixth in his first Porsche race for the Triple X Motorsport team, two-time V8s champion John McIntyre (VnC Cocktails Porsche 997) found switching between his V8 and the Porsche physically demanding.

Dicing with team-mate Courtney Letica (Altherm Porsche 997), the pair had a tit-for-tat battle in the opening lap – joined by Jody Vincent for a three-wide drag down the front chute. McIntyre took the eventual advantage, with Letica later tagging the wall – damaging the rear bumper on his car.

Mad Butcher CEO Mike Morton had a fraught day after consistent lap times in qualifying on Friday. A late race spin in the morning dropped him down the order before running out of clutch in the opening lap of this afternoon’s race.

Tomorrow’s final race in the trophy weekend at the V8 Supercar event starts from 11:45am with the weekend results celebrated on the event podium at 2pm.