What better way to christen New Zealand's new Highlands Motorsport Park then to set a lap record in a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 racer?
Located about 50km from Queenstown on New Zealand's South Island, Highlands Motorsport Park was run-in by Kiwi-born Porsche Carrera Cup driver Craig Baird, in a brand new 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8-powered McLaren MP4-12C GT3 race car.
The brain-child of Scottish-born part-time racing driver and all around motoring enthusiast, Tony Quinn, and designed primarily as an exclusive members-only facility, the brand new 4.5km international-standard circuit features three complete tracks, an 800m go kart track and a 1500m2 National Motorsport Museum.
The result of the combined efforts of all involved in launching the Southern Hemisphere's newest circuit was a lap record of 1:41.9 – which you can watch happen below thanks to four on-board cameras.
