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After only 40 laps in a Porsche in his long and renowned history
of driving, Mark Skaife had qualified second for the season opening
race as the Porsche Carrera Cup returned to Australian
racing.
With the rain having eased, the track had dried and after early
concerns of a greasy turn one, Skaife took his place on the front
row, familiar territory, but not in a Porsche.
A good start from the front pack, and the challenge was on from
turn one, side by side with reigning champ Baird, Skaife took to
the inside line to hold second position as Reid launched from
P1.
Defending on the run to turn three, Skaife and Baird battled turn
by turn, entering the main straight for the first flying time,
taking to the right for the inside line into turn one. Slowing for
the exit, Baird was right on the L'Oreal Porsche's tail, and with
only one defensive move, the run past the lake would see the
ultimate power struggle between Skaife and Baird.
Side by side, Baird passed Skaife to take second, before Skaife
moved to the outside for the run into turn 13, now with a challenge
from Gaunt on his hands. Giving racing room on way to start lap
three, Skaife held his position at the head of a freight train of
exotic Porsches, with a Richards, Gaunt and Patrizi battle behind
allowing Skaife some room to pull away.
Lap four and it was Reid ahead of Baird, Skaife and Richards, who
was side by side with Skaife as he took the line through turn one,
leaving Richards to look to the outside of turn three but Skaife
held.
Coming onto lap seven, Skaife went wide onto the slippery curb at
the exit of turn 12 allowing Richards to take third, before Patrizi
had a massive impact at the same corner, leaving the field to
carefully pass through the accident zone avoiding debris damage to
the tyres, and ending the first race of the series' return under
safety car.
Mark Skaife
"I was reasonably happy with qualifying, and the overall
performance was ok but we should have been more conservative with
race setup - I had massive oversteer from the start.
"These cars achieve their speed so differently, so you need to
understand how to get the best and it's been a real
challenge.
"We've got good mid corner speed, the tyres are good and this is
more like the technique of an open wheeler which gives a good flow,
but I wasn't happy how I drove and certainly won't make that many
mistakes tomorrow!"
Skaife will hit the track tomorrow (Saturday 26th March) for Race
2 from 3:15pm.
Mark Skaife is proudly supported by L'Oreal Men Expert.