RealTime Acuras Ready for 2008 SPEED Touring Car Championship

The RealTime Acura team is putting the finishing touches on its SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Cars this week in preparation for the SPEED Touring Car season opener at Sebring and the entire 2008 Championship. As they did last year, the 10-time series Champions will campaign five production-based Acuras: four TSX sedan models and one RSX sports coupe.

The driver line up will see RealTime stalwarts Peter Cunningham and Pierre Kleinubing joined by second-year RTR pilot Kuno Wittmer. New to the squad in 2008 is a driver who, like his teammates, brings an extensive history with the Acura brand: Grand-Am Koni Challenge veteran Glenn Bocchino.

Cunningham and Kleinubing are responsible for eight of RealTime’s World Challenge Drivers’ Championships (four each) and 51 of the team’s record 64 race victories (25 and 26, respectively).

Wittmer will look to score his first SPEED Touring Car win this season, after finishing 2007 as the highest placing Acura driver in the points. Wittmer’s great consistency put him third overall, while Kleinubing and Cunningham ranked fourth and fifth.

Bocchino will enjoy a busy year behind the wheel of two different Acuras. His Team i-MOTO Racing team has already won the three-hour Koni Challenge opener at Daytona and will contest that entire championship with its two-car Acura TSX team.

RealTime Crew Chief Paul Truess likes his team’s chances to add to its substantial trophy case this year. “We know this year’s battle won’t be any easier than last season,” Truess said. “But the guys on the RealTime crew are hungry, so our competition better prepare for a fight! We had previously tested twice on the new specification tire and we just completed our final pre-season shakedown on our way to Florida.”

After the traditional start in Central Florida, the World Challenge circus winds its way around North America, including return visits to places like Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Lime Rock Park in northwestern Connecticut, Finger Lakes region of New York’s Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and the season finale at Road Atlanta.

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.

Divided into two separate series and races (SCCA SPEED GT and SCCA SPEED Touring Car), the SCCA SPEED World Challenge Championships are American’s top production car-based series. SCCA SPEED World Challenge events are a maximum of 50 minutes in length, feature standing starts, and regularly have grids of more than 30 cars composed of the world’s most popular manufacturers. The 2008 SCCA SPEED World Challenge season begins March 12- 14 at Sebring International Raceway. For more information see www.world-challenge.com.