The next four days heralds a major part of the Team VIP Petfoods motor racing campaign in 2007 with four cars entered in the support categories at the Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix being held at Albert Park in Melbourne.
Team VIP Petfoods will feature its three 997-based Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in the Carrera Cup with drivers Craig Baird, Klark Quinn and Tony Quinn, as well as its single entry for Paul Kemal in the Aussie Racing Cars.
Although it’s a non championship round for the Carrera Cup, the Grand Prix provides a great opportunity to feature at one of the biggest events in world motorsport each year in front of a huge crowd which exceeds 300,000 over the four days.
The Gold Coast based Baird is one of the in-form drivers in Australasian motor racing at the moment, following his win in round one of the Carrera Cup in Adelaide two weeks ago and then backing up to win a round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge in New Zealand last weekend against a crack field.
Baird, 36, originally from New Zealand, has already developed a strong rivalry with Carrera Cup competitors Alex Davison and David Reynolds this season which is set to continue on the streets of Albert Park.
Last year Baird was victorious in the VIP Petfoods and Stihl backed Porsche at the Grand Prix by taking out three of the four races, with Davison claiming the other.
Ready to push their claims in the Carrera Cup this year is the father and son team of Tony and Klark Quinn.
Klark had a good start to the season with a top-10 round placing in Adelaide and he also backed up with a venture to New Zealand. He placed third, 12th and second in the three races won by his VIP Petfoods team mate Baird. His only blemish was a spin in race two which sent him to the rear of the field but then made up for it with a storming race to second in race three.
In the Aussie Racing Cars, it is a championship round and last year’s series champion Paul Kemal will be out to dominate around the fast Albert Park layout.
Kemal finished second at the opening round in Adelaide behind James Ward but that result could have been better had he not been hampered by engine problems in the second race.
The 32-year-old from Balmain in Sydney will head south to Melbourne today for what shapes as an exciting four days of Aussie Racing Car racing. Action starts at the Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix tomorrow. Here is the Team VIP Petfoods schedule:
Thursday:
9.30am - Practice – Aussie Racing Cars
10.55am Practice – Carrera Cup
1.05pm Qualifying – Aussie Racing Cars
2.15pm Qualifying – Carrera Cup
3.45pm Race 1 – Aussie Racing Cars
4.25pm Race 1 – Carrera Cup
Friday:
4pm Race 2 – Carrera Cup
5.45pm Race 2 – Aussie Racing Cars
Saturday:
3.30pm Race 3 – Carrera Cup
5.40pm Race 3 – Aussie Racing Cars
Sunday:
9.50am Race 4 – Aussie Racing Cars
11.10am Race 4 – Carrera Cup
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