RealTime Acuras Take Mid-Ohio

Wittmer, Cunningham go 1-2

July 20, 2008 – Lexington, Ohio

Kuno Wittmer won today at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a part of the Acura Sports Car Challenge, leading a 1-2 finish by RealTime Racing drivers. Driving an Acura TSX, Wittmer scored his third win of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car season. The win extended Acura’s lead over rivals Mazda and BMW for the series Manufacturers’ Championship to 15 points. Team leader Peter Cunningham finished 0.868 seconds behind Wittmer.

Cunningham’s qualifying lap time of 1:33.301 put him in pole position with Wittmer alongside for an all-Acura front row. It was Cunningham’s second consecutive and 32nd of his career, putting him within one of teammate Pierre Kleinubing’s record holding 33 career poles.

Off the line the RealTime Acuras were side by side through the first two corners. Wittmer had the preferred line in the Keyhole turn and took the lead, which he would then hold for the rest of the race. Cunningham was able to challenge Wittmer several times while also fending off a furious assault from Mazda drivers, Jason Saini and Jim Daniels.

“Jason tried to set me up on the 19th lap, but then he and his teammate got so engrossed in battling for their own position that I was able to watch them get smaller and smaller in my mirror,” commented Peter Cunningham.

Drivers’ Championship points leader Pierre Kleinubing, after qualifying ninth in his Acura TSX, was involved in an opening lap accident with Mazda driver Charles Espenlaub. Both drivers were eliminated from the race. The incident dropped Kleinubing from first place in the points race to third as teammates Wittmer and Cunningham moved ahead to first and second respectively. Wittmer now has 705 points and leads Cunningham by 23. Kleinubing is 34 markers behind Cunningham.

Dino Crescentini scored his season best starting position, qualifying his Acura TSX fifth. Crescentini was also involved in the opening lap skirmish forcing him to pit twice. The RealTime crew did a great job changing a tire in the first pit stop and re-aligning the suspension in the second stop. Crescentini also benefited from the second caution flag to finish in ninth place.

Glenn Bocchino emerged from the same first lap melee with a damaged front wheel, forcing him to pit. The RealTime crew made a quick repair and he returned to action advancing his Acura RSX from last place to an eighth place finish.

It was the RealTime team’s fourth win of the 2008 season, and the 68th for the team in World Challenge competition. The double podium was the sixth time two RealTime Drivers have shared the podium this season.

The Mid-Ohio race TV broadcast will air on SPEED TV at Noon ET on Thursday, July 24.

The next World Challenge Touring Car race will be August 8-10 at Road America, RealTime’s home track, 30 miles north of their shop in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

The RealTime Acura team is sponsored by Acura, Acura Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Red Line Oil, Eibach Springs, buyBrakes.com, Sparco, Hawk Performance, Brembo, A-SPEC, BOSCH, Total Auto Body, PACT and A-YES.


http://www.realtimerl.com

Last edited by RyanDL on July 23, 2008 13:51