Leaving behind temperatures in the low teens in Melbourne, the MICHELIN Competition team this weekend made the long trip to sunny Townsville in Northern Queensland.
There as the official technical partner to the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, the MICHELIN Competition team provided service to all the Porsche teams throughout the weekend. This included fitting more than 150 new MICHELIN tyres to the teams’ rims after their practice sessions on Friday.
In what was a faultless weekend for the MICHELIN team and their tyres, it was reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion, Craig Baird, who made it a clean sweep by qualifying on pole and winning all three races.
While Baird was clearly the class of the field this weekend, the racing behind him was close and fierce between his championship challengers.
In the Elite class it was a much closer fight with Shane Smollen, Damien Flack, and Max Twigg each claiming a race victory. Flack’s second place in the first race and third in race three was enough to help him claim the round victory.
Baird only needed to use one set of MICHELIN tyres and just five laps in qualifying to set a time quick enough for pole early in the session. The rest of the round ran just as smoothly for Baird, with his MICHELIN tyres continuing to deliver throughout the weekend.
“I could not be happier with how everything went this weekend,” said Baird.
“This is a track I have struggled with in the past so was really not expecting this result. I worked a lot with Karl (Batson) and my team before we got here and it has really paid off. We were quick straight away and never looked back.
“The MICHELIN tyres once again delivered what we needed from them – they ran perfectly all weekend.
“The consistency of the tyres makes a huge difference in our racing; I was able to set my quickest laps towards the end of the race, and they had plenty left when I needed to push.”
Baird now has a comfortable lead in the Championship with 553.5 points. Nick Percat is second with 495 points and Warren Luff is just ten points behind him in third with 485 points.
For the MICHELIN Competition team it will be a case of going from one extreme to another when the head to the next round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia. The fifth round of the Championship will be held at Winton Raceway 23 – 25 August.
Track and air temperatures:
Qualifying: (8:35 Saturday morning) Air 22 – Track 22. Light cloud cover.
Race 1: (14:25 Saturday afternoon) Air 28 – Track 38. Sunny.
Race 2: (10:35 Sunday morning) Air 28 – Track 26. Sunny, patchy cloud.
Race 3: (13:20 Sunday afternoon) Air 26 – Track 38. Sunny.