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With rain persistently falling on the Albert Park circuit, Mark
Skaife returned to the drivers' seat, after a five month absence
from racing, to take control of his L'Oreal Men Expert/Dutton
Insurance Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car in celebration of 60 years of
Porsche in Australia.
A very wet track presented for the 20 minute practice session, and
it was a short one for the returning champion after a decision to
employ slick tyres as the track appeared to be revealing dry lines.
As the cars lined up to hit the track, the heavens opened and those
dry lines were gone, meaning Skaife would complete an out lap then
return to the pits for a tyre change, back on to wets.
Joining the 23 strong field with 11 minutes to go, Skaife was
looking to the early benchmark of Richards who had found a break in
the weather to set a 2:13.4404, some six seconds clear of the field
when rain set in again. Skaife returned to the pits again before
completing a lap to register a time, and as the session closed so
no time was recorded.
Skaife explained his short stint,
"Half an hour before the session we put slicks on coz thought it
was drying, as it turns out, when we were in parc ferme (dummy
grid) ready to go out it hosed with rain. We came in, put wets on
then it hosed down again so really we should have left the wets
on.
"Around here it dries so quickly, so i was thinking there'd be a
dry line in wheel tracks and we'd made the right choice, but then
it just hosed so that's just how it is."
With time for the rain to hold and the track surface to develop
dry lines, Skaife and the Carrera Cup field headed on track for a
20 minute blast, a fight not just against each other for pole, but
a fight against the lurking clouds.
Skaife was looking good early on, setting a time of 2:01.4562,
already approaching the pole time set during a hot qualifying back
in 2008. The opportunity for flying laps would be short lived as
Koundouris beached his entry at turn 13 bringing out the red flag
and sending the field to pit lane with Skaife sitting fifth.
Losing heat from the tyres and time from the clock, Skaife
followed the pack out for another blast, only to be again returned
to the lane after another red flag, this time with Angus leaving
the track at turn one. Green again, and the final opportunity to
take a place at the head of the field.
Skaife didn't miss this one, putting in a flyer through sector
one, having re-found his line, and taking the chequered flag on
pole even if only for a moment, before Reid went faster in the
final seconds, moving Skaife to second. Still an outstanding effort
from the former champion after more than five months out of the
drivers' seat.
Reflecting on his first Porsche laps on the Albert Park track,
Skaife explained,
"The car was really good. The earlier session was no use at all,
slicks on a wet track really doesn't work, but qualifying was good,
I really enjoyed it.
"This is very much a different style to qualify than a touring car
so you need to achieve it differently, keeping the flow as these
aren't as powerful but carry good mid corner speed. There's places
I'm using third gear, when in a V8 Supercar, I'd have been in
second so it's more like an open wheeler technique.
"Despite the rain, the surface is really good. Of all the street
circuits, this is the most like a European track, fast flowing and
I've always enjoyed it."
Skaife will join the Carrera Cup field for Race 1 tomorrow (Friday
25th March) from 11:25am.
Mark Skaife is proudly supported by L'Oreal Men Expert.