Halliday Experiences Tough Weekend in Spain

28 May 2012

Halliday Experiences Tough Weekend in Spain

American based New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday and his French co-driver Mike Parisy have endured a tough time in Round 3 of the FIA GT1 World Championship held at Spain’s Navarro circuit over the weekend. After taking out their first championship race win at the previous round, the Exim Bank Team China Porsche GT3 R finished out of the points this time.

Both Halliday and Parisy shared the Saturday qualifying runs with Halliday setting their final Grid 4 position time after Parisy guided the car through the first two qualifying sessions. However, in the Saturday night one hour race, the duo suffered a major setback after an encouraging start to the weekend.

Parisy drove the first stint and after a great start led the field into Turn 1 only to be forced off track and relegated to 4th before further unwanted contact saw him off track again dropping to 8th after the opening lap. After the compulsory pit stop and driver change, Halliday rejoined the race in 11th place which was where they finished after some hard fought driving on a track where overtaking was generally difficult.

Sunday afternoon’s Race 2, also over one hour, saw Halliday having to start from Grid 11 and after some spirited driving the pair ran as high as 8th until Parisy was again spun by another car in the closing laps dropping them to finish out of the points in 12th place.

"We came to Navarra knowing it was a circuit that wouldn't suit the Porsche so well but we were really happy to qualify 4th after we got the maximum out of the car. Unfortunately in Race 1 my teammate got pushed out of the lead in Turn 1 and we got dropped back into the clutches of the midfield scrap which basically determined our weekend from there on as it was very difficult to pass.

“We also had a problem in the second race during the pitstop which cost us a top eight finishing position and some valuable points in the main race. We will now move on to Round 4 in Slovakia and push for another win."

The next round of the championship will take place at the Slovakia Ring in Slovakia on 08-10 of June.

2012 FIA GTI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDER:

Round 1 - April 8-9 – Nogaro, France
Round 2 - April 21-22 – Zolder, Belgium
Round 3 - May 26-27 – Navarra, Spain
Round 4 - June 9-10 – Slovakia Ring, Slovakia
Round 5 - July 7-8 - Algarve, Portugal
Round 6 - August 25-26 – Beijing Goldenport, China
Round 7 - September 1-2 - Ordos, China
Round 8 - September 15-16 – Korean International Circuit, Korea (provisional)
Round 9 – September 15-16 – Moscow, Russia (provisional)
Round 10 – December 1-2 - Delhi, India

For further information visit:
www.gt1world.com
www.matthalliday.com
Twitter: @MattHalliday1

ENDS

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