SPEED Touring - Bonaccorsi's First Win for Mazda
Here is the article from speedvision regarding the win:
http://www.speedvision.com/auto/?lvl=3a&cat=23&id=2255
After a year and a half of development, Paul Bonccorsi gave the Mazda Protg its first SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car win today at Road America. Brazilian Pierre Kleinubing and teammate Peter Cunningham completed the top three.
"It feels great to get the first win in this car for Mazda," said Bonaccorsi. "It's a little selfish, but I'd hoped it would be me to get the
first one. My teammates and this crew has worked so hard."
Bonaccorsi started third in the No. 40 TriPoint/Mazdaspeed entry, and jumped into second behind Woody's Ice Polesitter Kleinubing on the standing start. After following Kleinubing's No. 1 RealTime Racing Acura Integra R for two laps, Bonaccorsi made his successful bid for the lead in Turn One.
Following a three-lap caution period to retrieve cars from the
gravel traps, Cunningham jumped past second-starting James Sofronas and Taz Harvey to follow teammate Kleinubing. Rookie Marc Kirberg joined suit, and followed the two RealTime cars in his BMW.
Cunningham feverishly bumped Kleinubing on the straightaways to stay ahead of Kirberg and keep the Mazda in sight. Cunningham's bumps were working for Kleinubing, but overheated Cunningham's brakes on lap 10, allowing Kirberg through into third, and leaving the young Brazilian to fend for himself in his pursuit of Bonaccorsi, who kept a lead of between 1.5 and two seconds until the final tour, when Kleinubing closed dramatically and made bids for the lead in Turns 13 and 14. The Mazda's grunt was too much for the Acura coming out of the final corner, and the two crossed the finish line nose to tail.
"I know Pierre [Kleinubing] is great under braking, so I was going as deep as I could," said Bonaccorsi. "At the end of the race, I was losing my brake pedal and had to pump it up on the straights. I was really pushing on the last lap to make up for the braking issues, and Pierre was there. I was able to kind of block him in the last couple of corners to hang on.
"My brakes were overheating too," said Kleinubing, who extended his
point lead to 28 over teammate Cunningham (140 to 112). "The Mazda team certainly deserves the win, they've been working hard for two years.
Cunningham was able to work past Kirberg and equal his finish in Saturday's SPEED GT event. "This feels like my chair," joked Cunningham about sitting in the third seat at the press conference. "Touring Car is definitely the most fierce battle out there, it's just a blast to drive. Everyone up front races clean, but doesn't give an inch.
Today's race will be broadcast on SPEED Channel July 27 at 8 p.m. Eastern
Round 5/SPEED World Challenge Touring Car results:
1) Paul Bonaccorsi, Mazda Protege, 16 laps, 83.318mph
2) Pierre Kleinubing, Acura Integra R, 16, -0.384sec
3) Peter Cunningham, Acura Integra R, 16, -2.372
4) Marc Kirberg, BMW 325is, 16, -4.368
5) Shauna Marinus, Mazda Protege, 16, -7.921
