World Challenge Manufacturers Championship Heating Up

TOPEKA, April 29, 2010: The World Challenge Championships has always been a series that manufacturers use to showcase the abilities of their production-based sports cars. After three rounds of the 2010 season, this year’s Manufacturers’ Championship in the GT, GTS and Touring Car classes are as exciting as ever.

After two-consecutive GT Manufacturers’ Championship titles, Porsche has set the pace again in 2010. Led by Dino Crescentini’s victory in the second race of the doubleheader on the streets of St. Petersburg in the Porsche 911 GT3, the manufacturer leads the GT championship with 21 points.

The chase to date is anything but a Porsche runaway. Randy Pobst opened the season with a win in his Volvo S60 in St. Petersburg, and Kuno Wittmer made it three manufacturers in three races with a Dodge Viper victory in Long Beach.

Those wins put Volvo just behind Porsche with 17 points, followed by Dodge at 14. Brass Monkey Racing’s efforts with a pair of new Nissan GT-Rs also has Nissan in the hunt for the Manufacturers’ Championship in 2010.

Acura has started successfully in the new-for-2010 GTS class after claiming the last two titles in the Touring Car class. RealTime Racing’s Peter Cunningham swept the St. Petersburg weekend in his Acura TSX, and teammate Nick Esayian earned a second place finish in Long Beach that leaves Acura just short of the maximum available points through three rounds.

Mazda, a traditional contender in Touring Car, and Porsche, the current GT leader, also have GTS title aspirations and have scored points in the class in 2010.

The Touring Car battle is set up to become an epic fight to the finish. Volkswagen, led by Todd Buras, swept the first two rounds at St. Petersburg to take an early lead in the title hunt. Robert Stout’s pair of second place finishes in his Scion tC kept Scion in the hunt, and when Stout became the youngest World Challenge winner in history at Long Beach, Scion took the championship lead.

Only five points separate Scion (23 points) from Volkswagen (18 points) heading towards a doubleheader at Mosport International Raceway. Honda (13 points) and Mazda’s TC effort (11 points) also remain in the hunt.

Sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing, the 12-race 2010 World Challenge Championship continues May 21-23 at Mosport with the Victoria Day SpeedFest Weekend presented by Optima Batteries. For more information, please visit www.world-challenge.com.