Halliday finishes 8th in Porsche Supercup Race at Spa

New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday has powered his Giltrap Racing Porsche 911 GT3 to 8th place in Round 9 of thePorsche Mobil 1 Supercup held in Belgium yesterday.

It was a satisfying result for the Kiwi motor racing star after a highpaced race on a track where conditions varied owing to constant rain showers.Once again the notorious Spa-Francorchampscircuit lived up to its reputation for rapidly changeable weather in both free practice andqualifying.

The MRS engineers used the Friday practice as more of a shakedown following acomplete rebuild of the car and with conditionsvarying from wet to dry, Halliday elected toconserve his slick tyres for a dry qualifying run on Saturday.

The 30 minute qualifying commenced on a drytrack forcing drivers to set competitive timesearly in case rain re-appeared. Halliday wastotally pleased with the car and set the 8thfastest time despite a cautious approach to thedamp parts of the faster corners.

On his finalrun he actually improved his lap time over the first two sectors but heavy rain began to fall on the fastest section of thetrack slowing his progress.Race day conditions were again changeable but the rain held off allowing drivers to settle into some high spirited driving despite some damp patches of track remaining.

Halliday again made a good start but it was a case of being consistentand maintaining contact with the front runners:“It was a typically difficult Spa weekend with the weather making life difficult. Qualifying went extremely well as the carhad more to give but we took it cautiously with so many damp spots around. The race itself was run at a fast pace but we all had to drive on a definitive dry line which made overtaking quite dangerous” he said after the race.

Yesterday’s race was Halliday’s last race in the 2010 series as he now heads to Australia to contest the endurancerounds of the V8 Supercars championship where he will partner Jason Bright in the Trading Post Racing HoldenCommodore. The 10th and final round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will be held in two weeks’ time at Italy’s historic Monza circuit as support to the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix.For further information visit: www.racecam.dewww.matthalliday.com

2010 PORSCHE MOBIL 1 SUPERCUP CALENDER:

Round 113 MarchBahrain (Sakhir)

Round 214 MarchBahrain (Sakhir)

Round 309 MaySpain (Catalunya)

Round 4 16 MayMonaco (Monte Carlo)

Round 527 JuneEurope (Valencia)

Round 611 JulyGreat Britain (Silverstone

)Round 725 JulyGermany (Hockenheim)

Round 801 AugustHungary (Budapest)

Round 9 29 AugustBelgium (Spa-Francorchamps)

Round 10 12 SeptemberItaly (Monza)