Reigning champions Craig Baird and Max Twigg have continued their impressive performance in the second Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia race of the Albert Park round.
Baird and Twigg, who won the 2011 Professional Class and 2011 Elite Class championships respectively, were unchallenged in their fight for race victory in today’s eight lap Porsche race.
After winning the opening race yesterday, Baird mirrored his earlier performance with another lights-to-flag victory in the weekend’s second race.
The New Zealander gained the lead from the start of the race, with Jonny Reid and Alex Davison close behind.
Baird led the front-running trio to chequered flag to claim the win and gain ground on championship leader Davison in the title chase.
“Like yesterday, the car was very good. I’m a little surprised we’ve got the pace we have over Alex and Jonny. The car is consistent; I can pretty much pick a lap time and constantly stick with it,” said Baird.
Guest driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen claimed his second fourth place finish for the round, ahead of James Davison and Steven Richards, who came through the field from 11th at the start to finish sixth.
Young Kiwi driver Andre Heimgartner finished the race in seventh, with Twigg gaining his second Elite Class race win of the weekend. Twigg was pleased with the class win, but not as much as finishing ahead of Mark Skaife and Nick Foster in the race to the chequered flag.
“We had a good consistent race. I looked after my tyres, I didn’t try too hard and I didn’t overdrive it. I just wanted to bring it home in a strong position,” said Twigg.
“I learnt a lot racing with the Professional Class drivers. I was picking up a lot of things; learning from the way they clear the brake, drive on the kerbs and transfer the weight of the car – lots of little things that improve your overall lap time.”
James Koundouris, who finished in 11th ahead of fellow Elite Class driver Peter Hill, was pleased with his pace after battling with several Professional Class drivers throughout the race.
“My pace is good. I’m racing against the Professional guys and it’s a really tough field. This is the toughest field I can remember in Carrera Cup; there are probably about 10 guys here who could win a race on their day, and when you’re in that company you know it’s tough,” said Koundouris.
“I’m very happy to be running with these guys and with a bit of luck during the race we’ll get back into the top 10.”
The final race of the Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia round at Albert Park will be held on Sunday at 2:10pm.
