LAKEVILLE, Conn. (May 24, 2008) Kuno Wittmer, of Montreal, Que., further enhanced his SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship point lead with a victory Saturday at Lime Rock Park. Polesitter Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Chip Herr, of Lititz, Pa., completed the podium for the first of two SPEED Touring Car races at Lime Rock Park over Memorial Day Weekend.Starting second, Wittmer immediately launched into the lead in the No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX as polesitter Kleinubing was left spinning his tires at the line. Once Kleinubing got away, he slotted into second behind Wittmer and ahead of the No. 97 Tindol Motorsports MAZDA6 of Herr.I just had a bad start, Kleinubing said. I spun the tires way too long. I felt it was better to keep on going at that time rather than to back off and just make things worse. By the time we got to One, Kuno had the lead by quite a bit already. At the start, I had the right RPM and was able to get off the line, Wittmer said. I had a good start and I saw Pierre did spin his tires a little bit, so I had to take advantage of that. From there, Wittmer and Kleinubing worked together to pull out a gap on Herr, with Wittmer setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 13 at 58.607 seconds (93.982 mph). was definitely putting pressure on me the whole time and I was trying to pace myself and run the same lap timesjust like qualifying, without over-driving the tires, Wittmer said.
While Wittmer and Kleinubing ran together for the first half of the race, on lap 26, Kleinubings engine shut off, requiring him to recycle the ignition and nearly spin in Turn Seven. By the time Kleinubing gathered up the No. 43 Acura/RealTime/Red Line Acura TSX, Kleinubings gap to Wittmer had increased to more than three seconds.
