From the sidelines of today’s practice sessions for the Carrera Cup and Aussie Racing Car series at Oran Park, Team VIP Petfoods teammates Paul Kemal and Klark Quinn may have appeared similar to the casual spectator.
And why wouldn’t they - both are accomplished and resolute competitors in their respective classes, both proudly cloaked in the VIP Petfoods black and yellow paw print and both take to the track with the same passion – however move from the track to pit lane and a startling difference between the two quickly becomes apparent – their height!
Contradictorily, the tallest of the pair – easily Kemal at an amazing 192 centimeters - pilots the team’s smallest machine, folding himself away into the pint-sized Aussie Racing Car at which he stands almost twice as high, while Klark’s 152cm stature experiences the comfort of a roomier cockpit aboard his Carrera Cup Porsche.
Despite the pair placing on the extreme opposites of the ruler, when it comes to attitude and results their polar difference does not appear to come into play on the race track – with both delivering determined performances for today’s sessions.
Klark expressed his commitment to shake off the bad luck which saw him exit the race and the round in race two here last year by posting some credible times behind his father Tony Quinn around the 2.62 kilometre circuit.
“My round here last year was ended prematurely after an incident in race two saw the car damaged and it didn’t really go well from there, ” said Klark.
“This year I am looking to put down some strong laps and just go from there – today’s practice was okay for me coming home in the second session behind dad, but it is only the start of the weekend.
“The car is in good form so we will see what qualifying brings tomorrow morning. ”
Meanwhile, Kemal showed he certainly has the speed at his home circuit today, topping the time sheets with an impeccable performance in today’s single Aussie Racing Car practice session.
“The car is in fantastic form and we won’t be changing anything between now and the race – except to bolt on a new set of tyres post-qualifying, ” said Kemal.
“I call Oran Park my home track, and when testing here a few weeks ago the car was really quick straight up, so with topping the sheets this morning it looks like we should be set for a good weekend with hopefully none of Eastern Creek’s issues! ”
After opting to sit out the first practice session in the aim of saving tyres and a quicker run on a cleaner circuit, Baird struggled in the Carrera Cup’s second session unable to find a clear lap and running into trouble when the car ahead of him spilled oil.
“This weekend has not gotten off to the best start, with a combination of things in practice seeing me end up in the middle of the pack, ” said Baird.
“I couldn’t seem to get a clear lap and then once I started to get some air in front of my car the one ahead of me started spilling oil so it just would not come together.
“There were also some other little issues with the car that we will be working on overnight which did not help the situation - in hindsight we probably should have gone out for a lap earlier on this morning but I guess that is the way it goes sometimes and there is no reason we can’t come back tomorrow and improve. ”
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