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Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding
Fri/Sat/Sun Feb 16-18 2007
Day 2
HALLIDAY AND COULTHARD SHARE THE BATTERY TOWN PORSCHE GT3 CUP SPOILS AT MANFEILD
Matt Halliday (Giltrap Prestige/Karcher GT3) heads to the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport round at Durban in South Africa this week with another race and round-winning performance in the 2006/07 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship behind him.
Emphatic Taupo round winner Halliday qualified quickest and won two of the three races at the fourth round of the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series at Feilding's Manfeild Autocourse this weekend, including the longer third and final reverse top six grid one which he started from the second row of the grid.
Buoyed by the announcement on Friday that he would take over A1 Team.NZL's A1GP car from teammate Jonny Reid for the South Africa race, 27-year-old Auckland international Halliday claimed his first pole position of the season in qualifying on Saturday morning then secured a lights to flag victory in the first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon from Coulthard (Mitre 10 Mega GT3) and defending Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge champion Baird (CCS/Hilite GT3).
Coulthard stormed back to win what turned out to be an incident-packed second race of the weekend on Sunday morning after a tangle with Baird slowed Halliday, but Halliday was back in front early in the 16-lap reverse top six grid final, quickly displacing pole sitter Rob Steele (Plug Advertising GT3) and fellow front row starter Shane McKillen (Clubland TV GT3) and edging away as Coulthard worked his way forward from the third row of the grid and Baird did the same from the back.
Baird started and finished the first race where he qualified (third), but had his chances of a top three finish in the second race scuttled when he was called into the pits for a drive-through penalty after the contact with Halliday.
He returned to the pits for a second time a lap later, thinking that he would retire and conserve his tyres for the final, only to have second thoughts after doing a quick tally up of the points he would relinquish, choosing instead to return to the track and circulate quietly until the chequered flag came out.
With Halliday and Baird out of contention in the second race, Pukekohe's Jody Vincent (Koken Tools GT3) claimed his best finishing place so far this season by crossing the finishing line in second place with Halliday able to recover to third and Christchurch's Rick Armstrong fourth.
Having finished fourth in the first and third races second in that race and fourth in the final was enough to give Vincent his third round podium in four rounds, behind Halliday and Coulthard.
Rob Steele also had reason to feel satisfied with his efforts having claimed a series best sixth quickest lap time in qualifying on Saturday morning, then finished sixth in both the first and second races and fifth in the final - the latter after confidently holding off Craig Baird and Jody Vincent for the fourth and fifth laps.
Once Baird and Vincent were past he then completed the race running in fifth place, crossing the line just under three seconds in front of Shane McKillen (Clubland TV GT3) and Graeme Cameron (Camco Temporary Fencing GT3).
Impressive youngster Jono Lester (Blackwoods/Paykels GT3) had a promising start to the weekend, working his way from eighth to fifth in the first race but was an early casualty of contact in the second race, being pushed into Rob Steele then pulling to the side of the track and out of the ace with radiator damage.
The damage was repaired for the final race but Lester was unable to improve on his first race performance, crossing the finishing line in ninth place.
Heading into the final three rounds of the 2006/07 Battery Town series defending champion Craig Baird continues to lead the overall points standings, albeit with a reduced margin from Fabian Coulthard, Matt Halliday and Jody Vincent.
This season the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship series is again one of the lynchpins of MotorSport New Zealand's premier Mike Pero Motorsport Series programme with seven rounds alongside the Parker ENZED NZ V8s Championship, Toyota Racing Series, Nicibo Production Racing Series and new MINI Challenge.
Each weekend there are three Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge races with the third and final race over a longer distance and with a reverse top six starting order.
Pukekohe's Pukekohe Park Raceway hosted the first round of the 2006/07 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Championship over the November 4/5 2006 weekend and the second round was held at Christchurch's Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway at Ruapuna Park on November 25 & 26 2006.
The new Taupo Motorsport Park hosted the third round between January 19-21 and Feilding's Manfeild Autocourse hosted the fourth one this weekend.
Next month the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge heads to Timaru's Timaru International Raceway then Invercargill's Teretonga Park before returning north in April for the grand final at the Placemakers V8 Supercar meeting at Pukekohe's Pukekohe Park Raceway.
For more information on the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Challenge championship contact Ross MacKay on 021 677 919 or via e-mail on ross@fastcompany.co.nz
Editor's Note: Hi-res jpgs from this season's 2006/07 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship series are available on request from Ross MacKay at ross@fastcompany.co.nz
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Qualifying
1. Matt Halliday 1.08.414
2. Fabian Coulthard 1.08.547
3. Craig Baird 1.08.599
4. Graeme Cameron 1.09.634
5. Jody Vincent 1.09.638
6. Rob Steele 1.09.790
7. Shane McKillen 1.09.838
8. Jono Lester 1.09.870
9. Kevin Bell 1.10.053
10. Rick Armstrong 1.10.090
11. Nick Gordon 1.10.444
12. Jonathan King 1.11.211
13. Connel McLaren 1.11.823
14. Michael Morton 1.12.267
Race 1 (10 laps)
1. Matt Halliday 11.40.474
2. Fabian Coulthard +0.834
3. Craig Baird +1.311
4. Jody Vincent +12.956
5. Jono Lester +14.225
6. Graeme Cameron +15.851
7. Rob Steele +16.454
8. Rick Armstrong + 17.495
9. Shane McKillen +24.384
10. Nick Gordon +24.863
11. Connel McLaren +34.710
12. Michael Morton +35.315
13. Jonathan King +50.918
Fastest lap: Fabian Coulthard 1.09.451
Race 2 (10 laps)
1. Fabian Coulthard 10 laps
2. Jody Vincent +2.888
3. Matt Halliday +3.780
4. Rick Armstrong +14.790
5. Shane McKillen +24.660
6. Rob Steele +25.151
7. Nick Gordon +25.443
8. Graeme Cameron +26.959
9. Michael Morton +32.188
10. Jonathan King +42.8120
11. Kevin Bell +1.07.642
12. Craig Baird +1 lap
13. Connel McLaren +2 laps
Fastest lap: Fabian Coulthard 1.09.492
Race 3 (16 laps)
1. Matt Halliday 16 laps
2. Fabian Coulthard +5.363
3. Craig Baird +5.658
4. Jody Vincent +17.200
5. Rob Steele +19.546
6. Shane McKillen +26.286
7. Graeme Cameron +29.019
8. Kevin Bell +36.449
9. Jono Lester +37.697
10. Connel McLaren +45.038
11. Nick Gordon +45.297
12. Michael Morton +55.505
13. Rick Armstrong +55.587
14. Jonathan King +1.12.337
Points after Rnd 4 of 7
1. Craig Baird 746
2. Fabian Coulthard 732
3. Matt Halliday 725
4. Jody Vincent 649
5. Jono Lester 456
6. Graeme Cameron 389
7. Nick Gordon 384
8. Rob Steele 354
9. Rick Armstrong 343
10. Kevin Bell 325
CALENDAR
Rnd 1 Nov 3-5 2006 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe
Rnd 2 Nov 24-26 2006 Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway at Ruapuna Park Christchurch
Rnd 3 Jan 18-21 2007 Taupo Motorsport Park Taupo
Rnd 4 Feb 16-18 2007 Manfeild Autocourse Feilding
Rnd 5 Mar 2-4 2007 Timaru International Motor Raceway (Levels) Timaru
Rnd 6 Mar 9-11 2007 Teretonga Park Raceway Invercargill
Rnd 7 April 20-22 2007 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe (Placemakers V8 Supercar meeting)
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