Baird/Luff share top practice times at Bathurst

Multiple champion Craig Baird looked in ominous form as he set the fastest time in Porsche Carrera Cup free practice at Mount Panorama.

The Kiwi, who won all three races at Bathurst last year on the way to winning the Carrera Cup title, once again showed his skill at the 6.2km circuit.

The reigning champion topped the opening session with a time of 2:11.162s, which was 1.3s quicker than his nearest rival Warren Luff.

However, Baird didn’t have it all his own way as Luff just pipped him in the second free practice session.

Baird wasted little time and quickly found himself at the top of the timesheets with his opening flyer.

Nick Percat briefly leapt into top spot but his time was soon trumped by Baird by an impressive three seconds.

There was plenty of movement behind Baird with Percat, Michael Patrizi and Max Twigg battling over second.

Meanwhile the championship leader produced even quicker times dipping into the 2:11s bracket.

With seven minutes remaining, Shae Davies brought the red flags out with a spin at Murrays.

The session resumed shortly after but nobody could match Baird. Luff snatched second late on with Steven Richards five tenths further back in third.

The second free practice followed a similar pattern to the first with Baird leading the way.

He led the majority of the session but was unable to match the time he set in the previous outing.

But the session took a twist courtesy of Luff, who produced his best effort of the weekend, to pip Baird by three hundredths of a second and claim the quickest time of FP2.

Percat continued his progress by posting the third fastest time just ahead of Richards and Patrizi.