Motorsport: Weather adds to a wild ride

Craig Baird. Photo / Getty Images

Teretonga threw all manner of weather at competitors in the third round of the New Zealand Premier Race Championships over the weekend.

Drivers had to cope with sunshine, rain and high winds as well as battling opponents on the track.

Defending NZV8 and Porsche GT3 champion Craig Baird made the most of the weekend to win the round in both classes.

He leads the V8s heading to Timaru for the fourth round from Angus Fogg and Kayne Scott.

He jumped three places to third in the Porsches and is keen to get to the Timaru round to consolidate his V8 lead and close the gap on the leaders in the GT3 class.

"It sets me up for Timaru and the car's probably more suited to there anyway," said Baird.

"We struggled all weekend in a straight line but gained lots around the back. There are more corners at Timaru, so we'll be fine.

"It was tidy to get a Porsche win again. I knew it was coming as we've been quickest at every round."

Scott shot off the line and led the field in the first race until he drifted wide though the loop gifting the lead to John McIntyre. He then pulled steadily away from the chasing pack of Scott, Baird, Tim Edgell, Fogg and Aussie V8 Supercar driver Jason Bargwanna.

The race settled down until Eddie Bell got a tap entering turn two, spun on to the dirt and rolled on to his roof.

On the restart the race order remained the same with McIntyre taking the win.

For most of race two the order was the same as the opening gambit but with three laps to go, Scott passed McIntyre and then Baird pulled an audacious pass on McIntyre at turn two and that's the order the race finished.

Fogg stayed out of trouble in the reverse grid third race in the rain to head Baird and Andy Knight home.

The grid for the Toyota Racing Series had the largest contingent of overseas drivers seen in New Zealand.

Defending champion Mitch Evans led the field through two restarts only to lose to Aussie Scott Pye with a couple of laps to go when he missed a gear, forcing him to run wide.

Evans made no mistake in race two after he got past pole-sitter Nick Cassidy and was never troubled.

Local driver Damon Leitch recovered from his DNF in race one to make it a Kiwi one-two-three.

In the top six reverse grid race three Evans took a comfortable third behind winner Englishman Alex Lynn and German Mario Farnbacher to win the opening round of the TRS championship.

"I've just got to remember not to lower my guard and keep trying when we get to Timaru," said Evans.

Daniel Gaunt won an entertaining Porsche GT3 race, holding off defending champion Craig Baird with Jonny Reid tucked in close behind.

Baird bounced off the grid in race two to snatch the lead and was never headed to win his first GT3 race of the season. Behind him Mitch Cunningham and Gaunt had a good old-fashioned ding-dong all race long.

Baird showed his class in the wet in race three by launching himself from sixth to lead by turn two. Jonny Reid and Gaunt followed the expat Kiwi home.

The Formula Fords produced three different winners over the weekend - Stefan Webling, Tim Vickers and Andre Heimgartner.

The Suzuki Swifts also threw up three different winners: Dane Fisher, Ben Erikson and Shaun Lawrence.

Chris Pither took the round win in the V8 Utes with two wins from three races and Simon Bernie topped the podium in the other.