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Auberlen Sets New SCCA SPEED Touring Car Qualifying Record at Infineon SONOMA, Calif. (July 16, 2004) -- SCCA SPEED Touring Car point leader Bill Auberlen, of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., set a new SCCA SPEED Touring Car qualifying lap ...

Edited: Jul 18, 2004, 1:15 AM

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Auberlen Sets New SCCA SPEED Touring Car Qualifying Record at Infineon

SONOMA, Calif. (July 16, 2004) -- SCCA SPEED Touring Car point leader Bill Auberlen, of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., set a new SCCA SPEED Touring Car qualifying lap record en route to capturing the Air Force Reserve Pole Position for Saturday's Round Four race at Infineon Raceway, as part of the Grand Prix of Sonoma Presented by Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa. Brazilian Pierre Kleinubing will start on the outside of row one, while Sweden's Nic Jonsson will start third.

Auberlen, who set the old qualifying track record last year with a 1:52.395 (80.715 mph), shattered the old record by more than 5.7-seconds with a time of 1:47.671. Auberlen was the fastest throughout most of the session, until Kleinubing set a new fast time with nearly four minutes remaining. Not to be outdone by the Brazilian, Auberlen wanted the pole position and was determined to get it. With a little more than a minute remaining in the session, Auberlen got it in his No. 1 Turner Motorsport/H&R Springs BMW 325i.

"I wanted to make sure I stayed on the track, so if someone eclipsed my time I could get going right away," Auberlen said of his decision to stay out on the track throughout the qualifying session. "Instead of trying to do it from pit lane because people can do it in the last minute. And, sure enough here comes Pierre, 'boom' and bangs my time down. I needed that point [the fastest qualifier receives one drivers' point for winning the pole] and I went after that point like it was do or die situation. It was really a nice lap. I've had a lot of bad laps here, but that was one of the nicer ones. The car went exactly where I put it. There was not a mistake through the lap and that's what I needed to beat Pierre's time. Otherwise, we wouldn't have got it."

Kleinubing piloted the No. 42 A-SPEC/RealTime Racing Acura TSX to the second quickest qualifying time with a 1:47.848 (84.452 mph).

Jonsson, who is coming off back-to-back second place finishes, will start third in his No. 27 Lectric Air/Tecmark Corporation BMW 325Ci thanks to qualifying time of 1:47.961 (84.363 mph).

Auberlen's teammate Justin Marks, of San Francisco, Calif., and Peter Cunningham, of West Bend, Wis., will start fourth and fifth, respectively

The SPEED Touring Car Round Four race will make its standing start at 4:25 a.m. (PDT) Saturday, July 17. Saturday's race will air at 9:00 a.m. (PDT), Sunday July 18.

For Live Timing Presented by Cadillac, visit www.world-challenge.com.

-scca pro racing-

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