Porsche champions return for three-peat

Five-car Auckland based Porsche team Triple X Motorsport are eying a third successive championship title with the start of the 2009/10 seven round Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup at Pukekohe this weekend (7-8 November).

Having secured back-to-back Porsche titles after two seasons of operation, the team will again run defending champion Craig Baird, along with resident drivers Daniel Gaunt, Mike Morton, Shane McKillen and Courtney Letica.

Baird’s five consecutive crowns in the one-make race car series has pushed the 39-year-old to 21 outright New Zealand titles – a benchmark he wants to extend.

“That’s always the plan. I still believe at the end of the day you have to have everything working for you, and that includes the people around you doing the preparation, we’ve certainly proven that in the past,” said Baird, a Queensland based Kiwi.

With a field of 14 teams entered for the opening round, Baird says it’s good to see old and new faces in the line-up, including arch rival Matt Halliday and new recruit Jonny Reid.

“I think one of the most refreshing things is having Jonny Reid in there. People rate him as one of the top New Zealand young-guns. I’ve raced Halliday in four different Porsche championships and I’ve won all of them, so he’s a known quantity. The biggest threat to me I think is Jonny Reid, as I haven’t raced against him. He did well on the international stage in the A1 Grand Prix car, so it will be interesting to see how someone like that goes in identical equipment to the rest of the field. And if you look at the records, Jonny Reid was quicker than Halliday in the A1 car,” he added.

A change to the race weekend programme features the ‘Mad Butcher 100’ kilometre race on the Saturday, including a compulsory pit-stop. That is followed by a 12-lap race on Sunday morning and the top-six reverse grid 16-lap race in the afternoon. Baird doesn’t expect that will alter the tactics of winning a championship title: “It doesn’t matter what the race format is like, you’ll generally always find the cream will rise to the top and make the best of any situation, although the team now plays a bigger role in the Saturday race than normal with the pitstop,” he said.

While Baird has been racing internationally in a variety of categories, team-mate and from third position in last season’s championship, Daniel Gaunt is one round away from completing the Fujitsu V8 Supercar series. Gaunt’s best result has been a second overall at the recent Bathurst weekend.

Auckland business moguls Shane McKillen and Mike Morton have spent time pre-season completing test sessions while last year’s rookie Courtney Letica has been evaluating data to improve on his 11th championship placing.

As they all start the weekend with clean time-sheets, qualifying on Saturday morning is the first step toward a 75-point haul on offer for a race win – with diminishing value for lesser placings.

In a season that starts at the 2.841 kilometre long, South Auckland Pukekohe Park Raceway, the seven championship rounds include three in the South Island (Ruapuna, Teretonga, Timaru), along with Manfeild and Taupo before a season finale at the Hamilton V8 Supercar weekend in mid-April.

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Triple X Motorsport driver line-up:

Car number 1: Craig Baird (Mad Butcher/ ZM Porsche 997) – first overall 2008/2009 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge
Car number 2: Shane McKillen (VnC Cocktails/Juice Bar Porsche 997)
Car number 3: Daniel Gaunt (Placemakers/Hampsta Porsche 997) – third overall 2008/2009 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge
Car number 5: Courtney Letica (Altherm Porsche 997)
Car number 8: Mike Morton (Indians Bar/Hampsta Porsche 997)

Weekend race programme for Porsche GT3 Cup cars – Pukekohe Park Raceway, Manukau Road, Pukekohe.

Friday 6 November

12:30 - Porsche GT3 Cup - test session 1
15:50 - Porsche GT3 Cup - test session 2

Saturday 7 November

12:30 - 20mins Porsche GT3 Cup – qualifying
17:00 - Porsche GT3 Cup - Race 1 - 36laps (2.841km circuit = 102.3km)

Sunday 8 November

11:35 - Porsche GT3 Cup - Race 2 - 12laps
15:05 - Porsche GT3 Cup- Race 3 - 16laps - Top 6 reverse