Craig Baird
Craig George Baird is a New Zealand former racing driver who now is the driving standards observer for the Supercars Championship. He had previously raced competitively in the series from 2000 to 2016.
Baird enjoyed a prosperous career in his homeland of New Zealand and throughout the world, and is regarded as one of the countries most successful drivers. He won his first title in 1988 with the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship before moving to the Formula Pacific category the next season. Three years later, he would claim his first championship crown in the category and would win the next two seasons that followed. Throughout these three years, he also won the New Zealand Grand Prix, and shares the record for the most wins for the titular race by a single driver. Baird would then compete in the New Zealand Touring Car Championship where he won four consecutive titles from 1994 to 1997.
In 2000, Baird would sign with Stone Brothers Racing to compete in the V8 Supercars Championship Series. After immediate success in the opening round at Phillip Island, Baird struggled to retain a seat in the category. Driving with various teams for the next few years, he eventually stepped out of the category full-time in 2005. From there, he began competing in Porsche championships in Australia and New Zealand. Throughout his tenure, Baird established himself as one of the most successful drivers in the category with a five Australian Carrera Cup Championship titles and six New Zealand Porsche GT3 Championship titles. These achievements led to him being recognised by Porsche Germany as the most successful Porsche Cup driver in the world.
Following on from his fruitful racing career, Baird now assumes the role of driving standards observer for the Supercars Championship and was appointed to the Motorsport New Zealand board.
Junior and early racing career
Karting
Baird started racing karts in 1974 at the age of four. He achieved considerable success with four New Zealand titles and was a two-time Asia-Pacific champion.Junior formula
Baird began his foray into racing cars in 1985 in the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship. After two years of moderate success, he finally broke through for his first championship title in the 1987-88 season. The next season, Baird graduated to the New Zealand Formula Pacific Championship. After recording respectable results in his first full season, he competed on a part-time schedule for the next season where he recorded three wins from four appearances. The following year, he captured the title as well as the Motorsport New Zealand ‘Gold Star’ and won the New Zealand Grand Prix, driving a Swift DB4-Toyota. In 1992 and 1993, he dominated the championship, again attaining the New Zealand 'Gold Star' and would win the New Zealand Grand Prix twice more, thereby placing him equal-first for the most New Zealand Grand Prix victories by a single driver.During the course of 1992, he also partook in a campaign in the British Formula Two Championship driving with Graham Lorrimer Motorsport. This proved to be less fruitful than his New Zealand exploits; finishing tenth overall and only nine points to his credit. In America, Baird made select appearances in the Formula Atlantic series in 1990 and 1993. However, his efforts were plagued by mechanical problems. He would also compete in the World Cup Formula 3000 in Buenos Aires. He retired from the event after 40 laps.
Touring car career
In 1994, Baird would step out of single seaters and begin his pursuit in the touring car category. First competing in the New Zealand Touring Car Championship driving for BMW Motorsport New Zealand. This yielded immediate success with Baird winning the championship in his debut season. He would retain his title for the next three seasons. In this time, he also competed in the 1996 South African Touring Car Championship with the BMW works team. He achieved three podiums and finished eighth overall for the season. In 1997, Baird would make select appearances in the Australian Super Touring Championship for BMW Motorsport Australia. Later that year, he would team up with Paul Morris to drive in the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000. The pairing took pole position and Baird drove the car to provisional victory. However, the team had breached the race regulation which limited any one driver to a maximum of three hours continuous driving and thus were disqualified from the overall results.British Touring Car Championship
Despite the disappointment of the disqualification, Baird's performance had captured the attention of race teams overseas. Multiple teams from the British Touring Car Championship were in attendance and were keen to sign the Kiwi after the event. This included West Surrey Racing owner Dick Bennetts, who he was already familiar with owing to having tested Formula 3 machinery with in the past. He would eventually sign a two-year deal with West Surrey Racing to compete in the series starting from 1998, driving a Ford Mondeo. Despite early promise in pre-season testing at Donington in the previous years' Mondeo, the newer iteration used for the season proved to be uncompetitive owing to a lack of balance in the car thanks in part to the increased engine weight. Thus Baird struggled for results the entire year and was constantly changing his driving style in a bid to find improvements. However, the cars characteristics meant that it tended to excel more in wet weather conditions. He recorded a best result of sixth in the rain at Snetterton and led at Knockhill. His campaign was also intermittently interrupted by way of being subsidised for 1992 Formula One World Champion, Nigel Mansell in select rounds. After WSR lost the Ford contract for the 1999 season, Baird would leave Europe and returned to New Zealand.V8 Supercars
Baird's first racing experience aboard a V8 Supercar came in the 1997 Primus 1000 Classic when he partnered Steven Johnson at Dick Johnson Racing. The pairing finished the race fourth albeit three laps down.Baird made his championship debut in the category in the 1999 Queensland 500 as co-driver to Jason Bright at Stone Brothers Racing. The pairing placed their Ford Falcon on pole position for the event and were comfortably on course for victory on Sunday. However, mechanical issues forced them out of the race after 111 laps. They also demonstrated strong pace at the Bathurst 1000 but were once again overcome with mechanical issues. With Bright bound for the United States to compete in Indy Lights, this left a vacancy at Stone Brothers Racing. Following his performances in these events, Baird was promptly signed on a two-year deal as a full-time driver starting from the 2000 season.
The beginning of Baird's debut season showed tremendous promise. In the second race at the opening round at Phillip Island, Baird stormed from ninth on the grid to win the race by four seconds over Garth Tander. However, this ultimately proved to be the last time that Baird would finish on the podium in the category. After this event, Baird struggled for results for the remainder of the season and would be sacked mid-contract at the end of 2000. After losing his full-time drive for 2001, Baird paired with John Faulkner at the Queensland 500. For the Bathurst 1000, he would pair with Mark Noske to drive a Budweiser-sponsored entry run by Prancing Horse Racing. The team struggled for pace and would retire 27 laps into the event after Noske incurred a collision with Craig Lowndes at Forrest's Elbow.
In 2002, Baird would return to the series full-time. Signing with Rod Nash Racing which had formed an alliance with Peter Brock and ran under the Team Brock banner. Baird would team with Brock for the Bathurst 1000. However, they lacked pace and were plagued with mechanical issues. They finished 23rd and 25 laps down. In 2003, he moved to Team Kiwi Racing in search of greener pastures. However, the teams resources were lacking and the season passed without much note. Continuing with the team onto 2004, Baird continued to struggle with the lack of pace in the car although his racecraft did help him attain a handful of top ten finishes that year. The highlight of the season was a surprise pole position at Winton, in part thanks to changing conditions throughout the session.
Ahead of the 2005 season, Baird left Team Kiwi Racing for WPS Racing, marking his return to the Ford stable. The most noteworthy event to transpire for Baird that season was an accident that occurred during the final race at Pukekohe Park Raceway. At the end of lap 31, rain started to fall upon the circuit. This caught an array of drivers out and, in the ensuing chaos, Baird was spun by Paul Dumbrell and was sent into the wooden paddock fence used as part of the horse racing track. Baird retired from the race on the sport and the significant damage inflicted resulted in an extended red flag period. Following the conclusion of the 2005 season, WPS Racing would replace both Baird and teammate David Besnard with Jason Bargwanna and Brazilian driver, Max Wilson. With no other seats available elsewhere on the grid, this marked the last season where Baird would be a full-time driver in the V8 Supercar series.
Baird would be retained however, for the 2006 endurance events by WPS Racing. Partnering Bargwanna, achieving good results in both the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000. At the eleventh round in Tasmania, Baird would be afforded a one-off appearance for Team Kiwi Racing when he deputised for the injured Paul Radisich. Thereafter, Baird's racing resume in V8 Supercars was precluded purely to endurance co-driving duties. Competing with the Holden Racing Team, HSV Dealer Team, Stone Brothers Racing and Erebus Motorsport. Baird's final race in the category came in the 2016 endurance events, recording a 20th place finish in the second race at Surfers Paradise alongside main series driver, David Reynolds