Curran Grabs First Career Speed World Challenge Touring Car Pole at Road Atlanta

BRASELTON, Ga. (Sept. 28, 2006) – Eric Curran, of East Hampton, Mass., did not waste anytime in grabbing his first career SPEED Touring Car pole for tomorrow’s penultimate round of the SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship at Road Atlanta, as part of the Petit Le Mans. Tri-Point Motorsports teammates Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., and Jeff Altenburg, of Ellicott City, Md., will start second and third, respectively.

Piloting the No. 43 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing Acura RSX, Curran set the fastest time of 1:33.566 (97.728 mph) in his first flying lap around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile course.

“The car’s been great,�?? Curran said. “This Acura RSX has been fast all week. We’ve been at the top of the charts in yesterday morning’s practice, third quick in the afternoon. I got a little bit of help from Chip [Herr] drafting down the back straight. We made a few changes for qualifying and the car is even better than it was yesterday.

“I like this track a lot. I’ve been here a number of times and things couldn’t be better right now. I think that the Mazdas are going to be strong and obviously Chip [Herr], in the Audi, is going to be good on the start, so I’ll see if I can keep everybody behind me.�??

Pobst, who has one career win at Road Atlanta, will start on the outside of row one in his No. 73 Mazdaspeed/Tri-Point Motorsports Mazda 6 thanks to a fast time of 1:33.796 (97.488 mph).

Altenburg needed only one lap in his No. 72 Mazdaspeed/Tri-Point Motorsports Mazda 6 to capture the third fastest qualifying time of 1:34.158 (97.113 mph).

Charles Espenlaub, of Lutz, Fla., will start fourth in his No. 97 Sparco/Oakley/Tindol Motorsports Mazda 6, giving Mazda three cars in the top four positions. Chip Herr, of Lititz, Pa., who is coming off a win at Mosport, looks for his fourth win of the season when he starts fifth in his No. 17 STaSIS/Clear Capital Audi A4.

The standing start for Friday’s Round Nine race is scheduled for 10:55 a.m. (EDT). Live Timing and Scoring Presented by SRT and live race notes will be available during the race via the SCCA Pit Board through the event home page www.world-challenge.com.

BRASELTON, Ga. - Starting lineup for Friday’s SCCA Pro Racing SPEED WORLD CHALLENGE Touring Car Round Nine race, part of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, with position, car number in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, fastest lap time, and speed in miles per hour.

1,(43), Eric Curran, East Hampton, Mass., Acura RSX, 1:33.566, 97.727.

2,(73), Randy Pobst, Gainesville, Ga., Mazda 6, 1:33.796, 97.488.

3,(72), Jeff Altenburg, Ellicott City, Md., Mazda 6, 1:34.158, 97.113.

4,(97), Charles Espenlaub, Lutz, Fla., Mazda 6, 1:34.378, 96.887.

5,(17), Chip Herr, Lititz, Pa., Audi A4, 1:34.479, 96.783.

6,(42), Pierre Kleinubing, Coconut Creek, Fla., Acura TSX, 1:34.503, 96.758.

7,(20), Brandon Davis, Denver, Colo., Acura TSX, 1:34.542, 96.719.

8,(06), Kuno Wittmer, Montreal, Canada, Mercedes-Benz C230, 1:34.644, 96.614.

9,(66), Dan Aweida(R), Boulder, Colo., Dodge SRT-4, 1:34.759, 96.497.

10,(13), Brian Smith(R), Simpsonville, S.C., Dodge SRT-4, 1:34.864, 96.390.

11,(1), Peter Cunningham, Grafton, Wis., Acura TSX, 1:34.876, 96.378.

12,(67), Robb Holland(R), Denver, Colo., Dodge SRT-4, 1:34.907, 96.347.

13,(74), Dino Crescentini, Malibu, Calif., Mazda 6, 1:35.331, 95.918.

14,(99), Jeff Courtney(R), Slinger, Wis., Audi A4, 1:35.454, 95.794.

15,(83), Karl Poeltl(R), Knoxville, Tenn., BMW 325i, 1:35.614, 95.634.

16,(38), Seth Thomas, Cumming, Ga., BMW 325i, 1:35.683, 95.565.

17,(34), Nick Esayian, Encinitas, Calif., Acura RSX, 1:35.698, 95.550.

18,(25), Christian Miller(R), Newark, Calif., Volkswagen Jetta, 1:36.108, 95.143.

19,(36), James Clay, Radford, Va., BMW 325i, 1:36.155, 95.096.

20,(18), Freddy Baker, Bedford, Ohio, Audi A4, 1:36.412, 94.843.

21,(96), Charlie Putman(R), Mills, Wyo., Mazda 6, 1:36.477, 94.779.

22,(95), Billy Johnson(R), San Clement, Calif., Mazda Protege, 1:36.598, 94.660.

23,(2), Lucho deCastro(R), Stone Mountain, Ga., BMW 325i, 1:36.772, 94.490.

24,(35), Hal Brown(R), Blacksburg, Va., Dodge SRT4, 1:36.917, 94.348.

25,(16), Phil Parlato, Commack, N.Y., BMW 325i, 1:37.134, 94.138.

26,(21), Seth Neiman, Woodside, Calif., BMW 325Ci, 1:37.407, 93.874.

27,(39), Steve Bassen, Winston-Salem, N.C., BMW 325i, 1:38.181, 93.134.

28,(84), Jeff Nowicki, Birmingham, Mich., Ford Focus, 1:39.835, 91.591.

29,(94), Mary Katharine(R), Delray Beach, Fla., Mazda Protege, 1:39.886, 91.544.

30,(14), Billy Revis(R), Clemmons, N.C., BMW 325i, 1:40.638, 90.860.

31,(23), Frank Rossi, Kleinburg, Ontario, BMW 325Ci, 1:41.347, 90.224.

32,(24), Jim Osborn, Ooltewah, Tenn., Volkswagen Jetta, no time.