Gold Coast local Craig Baird will be the driver to beat at his home event after taking pole position in Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia qualifying in Surfers Paradise, while James Koundouris was the pace-setting Elite Class driver.
The Gold Coast based Baird was the quickest driver in Friday’s opening practice session and followed by claiming pole position in what was an eventful qualifying session for the New Zealander.
Baird lost his front splitter in the middle of the qualifying session, forcing him to pit for a replacement splitter. Once fitted, Baird only had several minutes to improve on his fastest lap, which placed him third at the time.
With 45 seconds remaining in the session, Baird posted the best time of the day and secured his position at the front of the grid for Saturday’s opening race ahead of Daniel Gaunt, Ben Barker, Jonny Reid, Michael Patrizi and Steven Richards in sixth.
“I’m confident going into tomorrow’s race,” said Baird. “My car is a lot quicker than it showed in qualifying. My qualifying session was a bit disrupted with our five-minute break in the pits and we didn’t get the tyres up to the temporary we needed them.
“I’m keen to do well in front of my home town. I’ve got my family here, along with a few friends over from New Zealand. The nicest part is that it’s so relaxing here. I spent most of my time today looking at the surf from my garage.”
In seventh place, James Koundouris was the quickest of the Elite Class drivers, qualifying ahead of Matthew Coleman, Max Twigg and Damien Flack in tenth.
“The car feels really good this weekend. We haven’t had the best set up this year, but I think we’re finally there,” said Koundouris.
“It would be good to get my first Elite Class win for the year in the Gold Coast.”
Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia will hold one race on Saturday, with two further races on Sunday.
The Armor All Gold Coast 600 is the penultimate round of the Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia season, with the all-Porsche championship to conclude on the street of Sydney for the Sydney Telstra 500 on December 02-04.
