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Wittmer Fastest in Afternoon World Challenge Touring Car at Road America


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ELKHART LAKE, Aug. 15, 2009: Kuno Wittmer, of Montreal, Que., was fastest Friday afternoon in the second, and final, SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car practice in preparation for Saturday’s Road America Grand Prix Presented by StopTech. Patrick Lindsey, of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Charles Espenlaub, of Lutz, Fla., completed the top three.

Pulling double-duty in both World Challenge Touring Car and GT this weekend, Wittmer ran his No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Red Line Oil Acura TSX the first part of the combined, 45-minute session and was the only driver to run a lap faster than 2:31, with a fast time of 2:30.922 (96.558 mph) around the 14-turn, four-mile Road America circuit.

“This morning we had a big electrical gremlin and we didn’t test on Thursday, so this morning I only had one lap to figure things out,” Wittmer said. “With that one lap, we recorded a lot of good data and we were able to make some good changes. The RealTime crew did a good job getting the setup sorted out. It feels good, but we still have a small electrical gremlin to figure out before qualifying tomorrow. I feel confident that my crew will figure things out, get the car back to A1 shape and we’ll be running for the pole.”

Lindsey ran second in the No. 57 Horton Autosport/Sloan Securities MAZDA6, turning a fastest time of 2:31.323 (96.303 mph). While second in the late session, Lindsey’s time from the first practice session of 2:29.855 (97.246 mph) was the fastest on the day.

Espenlaub was third in the late session, turning a 2:31.559 (96.053 mph) in the No. 73 MAZDASPEED/StopTech/ProParts MAZDA6.

Espenlaub’s teammate, Rookie Eric Foss, of Fort Worth, Texas, was fourth fastest in the No. 75 MAZDASPEED/StopTech/ProParts MAZDA6 with a time of 2:31.717 (96.053 mph).

Local driver Peter Cunningham, of Milwaukee, Wis., was fifth fastest in the No. 1 Acura/RealTime/Red Line Oil Acura TSX with a fastest lap of 2:31.724 (96.048 mph).

James Clay celebrated his birthday running sixth in his BMW 328i, followed by Pierre Kleinubing (Acura TSX), Seth Thomas (BMW 328i), Jason Saini (MAZDA6) and Nick Esayian (BMW 328i).

Lindsey topped all drivers on the day as the series heads to qualifying Saturday morning. The early session proved to be the fastest, as the top 11 cars turned their fast times at that time. Kleinubing was second fastest on the day, followed by Foss, Espenlaub and Saini.

Qualifying begins at 9:30 a.m. (CDT) and the Round Eight Road America Grand Prix Presented by StopTech is set to start at 5:45 p.m. Live timing, notes and streaming audio are available through World-Challenge.com.