Porsche Carrera Cup (Aus)
Qualifying for the second round of the Wright Patton Shakespeare Carrera Cup at Wakefield Park today followed the same script that was performed at the opening round in Adelaide in March.
Alex Davison claimed pole position ahead of Craig Baird with David Reynolds finishing third fastest.
Davison, supported by Glenfords Tool Centres and DeWalt, recorded his seventh pole position in the all-Porsche category and followed up with his pole-winning efforts at the Clipsal 500 earlier this year.
The 26-year-old’s best time of 59.3406 will stand as a qualifying record for the Porsches at Wakefield Park on the category’s first visit to the Goulburn 2.2km circuit.
Baird (Team VIP Petfoods) posted the next fastest time of 59.4431 seconds to join his arch rival on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 25-lap race one which includes a compulsory pit stop.
The pair have already engaged in some enthralling duels this season at the Clipsal 500 and then the Formula 1 Foster’s Australian Grand Prix non-championship round.
“It’s been a good start to this round,” said Davison. “We picked up some time from practice with new Michelin tyres, and managed to get out some good laps to snare pole position.
“It was difficult with so much traffic but we were able to squeeze out a couple of pole laps and some other close ones as well.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s pit stop race. We’ve got our strategy on when we will come in but really anything can happen.”
Ready and willing to join this front-end war is 2004 Formula Ford national champion Reynolds (Bob Jane T-Marts) who will start from the inside of the second row tomorrow.
The 20-year-old set a best lap of 59.4793 today to finish third on the time sheets, just ahead of another young gun in Jonathon Webb who clocked 59.5313.
Webb (Glenfords Tool Centres/Makita) is aiming to break into the top three again after his career-defining season last year, finishing third overall in the championship.
On the third row of the grid tomorrow will be another pair of aspiring young stars in Dean Fiore (Landscape Developments) and Bryce Washington (ADRAD Racing).
In his first season of Porsche racing, Fiore continues to impress with his speed and finesse so early in the championship race.
South Australia’s sole competitor in the championship Washington also bettered his practice-leading time from yesterday to etch his name as a podium contender this weekend.
Rodney Jane (Bob Jane T-Marts), David Russell (Boom Logistics/Sherrin Hire), David Wall (Glenfords Tool Centres/Hitachi) and Jim Richards (OAMPS Insurance Brokers) all bettered the 60 second mark and completed the top 10.
The 2003 series champion Richards is still adapting to the new type-997 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars being raced this year, and has yet to undertake a quality test session this season.
Round two of the Wright Patton Shakespeare Carrera Cup at Wakefield Park will continue tomorrow with Race 1 at 9am, Race 2 at 11.45am and Race 3 at 4pm.
ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Twenty-two drivers from Australia and New Zealand in 22 brand new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 997) cars will be vying for prestigious championship acclaim in 2006. Exhibiting innovation, emotion, aspiration and fascination, the marque is Porsche and the championship is the Wright Patton Shakespeare Carrera Cup Australia.
The Wright Patton Shakespeare Carrera Cup Australia is the primary support category to the V8 Supercar Championship Series. The championship, now in its fourth season in Australia, will travel to nine events (eight official championship rounds) in five states in 2006 and exhilarate crowds of more than 1.3 million people.
All cars in the 2006 Wright Patton Shakespeare Carrera Cup Australia were developed and built by Porsche’s racing headquarters in Weissach, Germany. With a top speed in excess of 300 kilometres per hour, the lightweight, high performance vehicles have a 400 horsepower, 6 cylinder Boxer engine which revs to 8000 RPM, producing a sound that is distinctly Porsche.
Drivers will vie for the prestigious Overall Championship in 2006, as well as a host of other awards including the TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge for the leading privateer driver 30 years of age or older; the Wright Patton Shakespeare Michelin Driver to Europe for the leading driver under 30 years of age who has not previously driven in a Porsche Michelin Supercup or International Carrera Cup round; the Michelin Rookie of the Year for the leading driver who has not competed in more than six rounds of a Porsche racing series prior to 2006; and the Mobil 1 Hard Charger for the driver who makes up the most number of grid positions in points-scoring races over the eight rounds.
The championship is proudly sponsored by Wright Patton Shakespeare which offers a full range of financial services products from superannuation and insurance through to home loans and investment property. Wright Patton Shakespeare consists of four specialist companies – Finance, Realty, Financial Services and Law.