Laguna Seca: Touring Car final practice notes

Herr's Morning Time Tops SPEED TC Practice in Monterey

MONTEREY, Calif. (October 19, 2007) -- Chip Herr, of Lititz, Pa., topped the time sheets Friday in practice for the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship season finale at the Monterey Sports Car Championships. Peter Cunningham, of Grafton, Wis., and Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., led the afternoon session and were second and third fastest overall, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Herr hit the top of the timing monitors early and continued to whittle down his time throughout the 20-minute morning practice session. By the end, a 1:35.929 was the (83.987 mph) was good enough to keep the No. 17 STaSIS/Clear Capital/Nalley Audi A4 on top. In the afternoon session, Herr could only manage the ninth-best time, but his morning lap held on to the top spot of the combined time sheets.

"We made some really great changes," Herr said after the morning session. "We put a stiffer bar on the car that we've never used before. Yesterday, I tested it and today I think we proved it's going to work for qualifying at least.

"We haven't historically done well here. I finished fifth here last year and I qualified 10th. I don't know if I'll be able to pass a bunch of cars again on the start like I did last year. There's a lot of people here battling for Championships so it's going to be tough. I don't want to be in the midst of it, but I'm going to be there."

Four-time World Challenge Champion Cunningham ended the day second fastest in his No. 42 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing Acura TSX, although he topped the evening session. The winningest driver in series history entered a time of 1:36.238 (83.717 mph). Teammate Kleinubing in the No. 1 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing Acura TSX completed the top three with a time of 1:36.370 (83.602 mph).

Denver's Brandon Davis made it three Acura TSXs in-a-row, running the fourth-quickest time of the day in the morning with a 1:36.478 (83.509 mph) in his No. 43 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing Acura. Currently second in the Drivers' Championship, Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., was fifth on the time sheets, turning a 1:36.480 (83.507 mph) in his No. 73 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development MAZDA6.

Dino Crescentini (MAZDA6), Kuno Wittmer (Acura RSX), point leader Jeff Altenburg (MAZDA6), Ian Baas (Audi A4) and Nick Esayian (Acura TSX) completed the top 10.

Qualifying for Sunday's season finale is scheduled for Saturday morning at 9:25 a.m. (Pacific). Live timing and lap notes are available at www.world-challenge.com.

-credit: scca