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Late Afternoon Action For Team VIP Petfoods |
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Sunday, 18 March 2007 |
It will be a late afternoon of action for Team VIP Petfoods at the Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix being held at Albert Park in Melbourne today, with Race 2 of the Carrera Cup at 4pm and Race 2 of the Aussie Racing Cars at 5.45pm.
Yesterday proved to be a fruitful occasion for the team with Paul Kemal continuing his winning ways in race one of the Aussie Racing Cars, while Craig Baird finished a close second in the Carrera Cup’s opening encounter.
Reigning Aussie Racing Car champion Kemal fended off stiff competition
from V8 Supercar driver Paul Morris and F3 champion James Manderson.
The action packed eight-lap race began with an intense duel up front as
Manderson and Kemal fought hard and positions changed for the lead
several times.
Kemal managed to pinch a clear break after several incidents unfolded
behind, a margin no-one could reduce as he ran away with the race
victory.
“The first few laps were really close as I had Manderson and Morris challenging for the lead,” said Kemal.
“But then all of a sudden a couple of incidents unfolded behind and
this left me out in front all alone; I was then able to cruise to
victory.”
Race one of the Carrera Cup was a battle from start to finish between Baird and Alex Davison with Davison just claiming victory.
With on-track temperatures reaching 41 degrees, race one was action
packed with two safety car appearances during the eight lap race.
Lining up from position two on the grid, Baird took the early lead into
turn one from Davison only to have it snatched back seconds later.
The opening lap saw the safety car come out as Team VIP Petfoods’ Tony Quinn spun out onto the gravel ending his race.
The battle between the top drivers heated up on lap seven as Baird
passed Davison before his challenger got past him again on the final
lap.
“I should have learnt by now not to think of my victory speech before
the finish line because I braked too hard into turn six allowing Alex
to get past me,” said Baird.
Klark Quinn, also driving a VIP Petfoods and Stihl backed Porsche, finished 12th and looks set to break into the top 10 today.
Race three on Saturday at 3.30pm and race four on Sunday at 11.10am will be telecast live on Network Ten.
THURSDAY RESULTS
Carrera Cup Qualifying:
1. Alex Davison 2:00.4673
2. Craig Baird (Team VIP Petfoods) 2:00.9417
3. Marcus Marshall 2:01.2601
12. Klark Quinn 2:03.2435
15. Tony Quinn 2:04.5954
Aussie Racing Cars Qualifying:
1. Paul Kemal (Team VIP Petfoods) 2:18.1551
2. James Manderson 2:18.6733
3. Nick Lowe 2:19.0249
Carrera Cup Race 1:
1. Alex Davison – 8 Laps
2. Craig Baird (Team VIP Petfoods) – 8 Laps
3. David Reynolds – 8 Laps
12. Klark Quinn (Team VIP Petfoods) – 8 Laps
DNF. Tony Quinn (Team VIP Petfoods) – 3 Laps
Aussie Racing Cars Race 1:
1. Paul Kemal (Team VIP Petfoods) – 8 Laps
2. Paul Morris – 8 Laps
3. Ben McCashney – 8 Laps
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