Asian Motor Sports

Seasoned driver Craig Baird won two of the three races in the opening round at Pukekohe this weekend to hit the front in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge.

Baird, 38, was favoured heading into the round although teammate David Reynolds pipped him for pole in qualifying and shadowed him to the line in the first two races.

Jono Lester won the reverse top six grid third race.

Second in that race was enough to give Baird the round win from Lester and last season’s runner-up Daniel Gaunt.

An indication of just how close the field is this year came in qualifying yesterday morning when no fewer than seven drivers broke the 58-second barrier.