Baird leads Asian Porsche series

New Zealand’s most successful race car driver, Craig Baird MNZM, has further extended his victory tally with two wins on the streets of Singapore in the weekend, leap-frogging to the head of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) series standings.

Driving the SC Global backed Porsche 997 at the SC Global sponsored event, Baird’s results came after a concerted effort by Porsche repair agents and his Kiwi crew provided the 40-year-old with a perfectly handling car for the Formula One support race weekend. The penultimate event on the 2010 calendar, Baird’s two wins moved him from an 18 point deficit to a six point lead in his maiden chase for the Asian title.

“The car was mega – as soon as I got behind the wheel it was ready to go. It’s testament to how hard the Porsche and Triple X boys worked, going over it front-to-back with a fine tooth comb and getting a balanced handling car ready,” said Baird after the Singapore double-victory.

Starting second on the grid in the opening race behind defending champion and previous series leader Christian Menzel (Germany), Baird seized upon a tyre selection gamble. Opting for a dry tyre following a Singapore rainstorm, the hot and humid conditions allowed Baird to claim his first ever victory on the Asian calendar.

In the pre-cursor race to the SC Global Singapore Grand Prix, Baird’s second race of the weekend proved the benefit of starting from pole position in the Asian series: “The staggered off-set of the grid makes it so much easier when you’re at the front. From there it was a start-to-finish run for me. Darryl O’Young challenged for a while, he was passed by Marchy Lee, and then he challenged for a while. I could see he was driving quite aggressively and thought he’d burn his tyres even more trying to have a go getting past. So I stuck to the game plan and it worked.”

With doubts as to how the car would handle after chassis damage at the previous PCCA round that was followed by a transit accident, Baird paid tribute to the work put in to supply a car that handled the same prior to the damage.

“Obviously we’re learning more and more about the car all the time, and the Michelin tyre. We’ve finally figured out the combination that works and works for my driving style. And without the work from everyone involved, the team wouldn’t have been able to deliver me the car we could move forward with rather than re-learn.”

With four weeks until the final event on the 2010 calendar, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia returns to China next month for two race rounds at the Shanghai International Circuit on October 22-24.

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2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship points (after round 8 of 10) – top four

1, Craig Baird, NZL, 121
2, Christian Menzel, GER, 115
3, Mok Weng Sun, SIN, 96
4, Marchy Lee, HKG, 61

PCCA round 7 results - top ten
1, Craig BAIRD (NZL), SC Global Racing (SIN), 29:12.272
2, Darryl O’YOUNG (HKG), LKM Racing (HKG), +0.347
3, Marchy LEE (HKG), Red Bull Racing (HKG), +14.758
4, Rodolfo AVILA (MAC), Team Jebsen (HKG), +29.288
5, MOK Weng Sun (SIN), Team PCS Racing (SIN), +46.602
6, Ringo CHONG (SIN), Team Kangshun (CHN), +46.983
7, Philip MA (HKG), Jacob & Co Racing (HKG), +1:31.427
8, Jean Marc MERLIN (FRA), Team J2M Racing (FRA), +1:38.769
9, Wayne SHEN (HKG), Modena Motorsports (HKG), +1.46.963
10, Jeffrey LEE (TPE), Team Pauian Archiland (TPE), +1:48.150

PCCA round 8 results - top ten
1, Craig BAIRD (NZL),SC Global Racing (SIN), 28:49.024
2, Marchy LEE (HKG),Red Bull Racing (HKG), +2.251
3, Darryl O’YOUNG (HKG),LKM Racing (HKG), +3.114
4, Christian MENZEL (GER), Team StarChase (CHN), +11.078
5, Rodolfo AVILA (MAC), Team Jebsen (HKG), +21.138
6, MOK Weng Sun (SIN), Team PCS Racing (SIN), +53.741
7, Ringo CHONG (SIN), Team Kangshun (CHN), +56.339
8, Jeffrey LEE (TPE), Team Pauian Archiland (TPE), +58.901
9, Francis TJIA (HKG), OpenRoad Racing (HKG), +60.456
10, Philip MA (HKG), Jacob & Co Racing (HKG), +61.854