SRO America
Sears Point: Touring Car qualifying report
Kleinubing Takes Pole, RealTime Goes 1-2 in SPEED Touring Car at Infineon SONOMA, Calif. (June 24, 2006) -- Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., earned the 28th pole of his SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge career at Infineon Raceway ...
Published: Jun 25, 2006, 5:03 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Kleinubing Takes Pole, RealTime Goes 1-2 in SPEED Touring Car at Infineon
SONOMA, Calif. (June 24, 2006) -- Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., earned the 28th pole of his SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge career at Infineon Raceway Saturday morning, turning a fast lap of 1:22.786 (86.536 mph) in his No. 42 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Acura TSX to take the top spot for the SPEED Touring Car portion of the Dodge/Save Mart 250 weekend.
The pole moved Kleinubing to within one of all-time poles leader Peter Cunningham, of Grafton, Wis., who will start alongside his RealTime teammate in the No. 1 Acura Certified Pre-Owned Acura TSX after turning a lap of 1:23.636 (85.656 mph).
As expected, Kleinubing's fast time came early on, during his first flying lap on the 1.99-mile road course. Cunningham followed suit, also turning his quick time on the same lap, as did third-fastest Charles Espenlaub, of Lutz, Fla., who turned a 1:23.647 (85.645 mph) in his No. 97 Sparco/Oakley/Tindol Motorsport Mazda 6.
Having never run on the abbreviated Infineon configuration, Kleinubing said that he preferred it to the regular course.
"I like this course better because it allows me to carry a little more speed, which is fun," Kleinubing said. "I got a perfect lap. I'd love to go that fast during the race, but, of course, it was just a qualifying setup."
Drawing closer to his teammate, and boss, Cunningham for the all-time lead in poles was something that Kleinubing said keeps things fresh in the RealTime paddock.
"We go back and forth with that," said Kleinubing, who, at age 31, is now in his 10th year of SPEED World Challenge competition. "I had the lead in that category a few years ago, and then Peter took it back. It's a friendly rivalry."
Tied atop the SPEED Touring Car Driver's point standings with Kleinubing coming into the Infineon weekend, Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., will start fourth in his No. 73 Mazdaspeed/Tri-Point Motorsports Mazda 6 after posting a 1:23.710 (85.581 mph), and Eric Curran, of East Hampton, Mass., made it three RealTime Racing entries in the top five with a 1:23.752 (85.538 mph) in his No. 43 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Acura RSX.
Practice leader Chip Herr, of Lititz, Pa., qualified seventh, however, he will start at the back of the field in his No. 17 STaSIS Motorsports/Clear Capital Audi A4 after having his times removed following post-qualifying technical inspection. Herr's Audi suffered a boost control failure, which meant the car was unable to control a compliant level of turbo boost.
-scca pro racing
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article TT Assen: Ducati race report
Next article Sears Point: Touring Car race results
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Eric Curran
Sebring 12 Hours: Nasr holds off Taylor to win for AXR
IMSA
IMSA
Sebring
Sebring 12 Hours: Nasr holds off Taylor to win for AXR
“They knew we were here” – dignified response from defeated AXR
IMSA
IMSA
Daytona 24
“They knew we were here” – dignified response from defeated AXR
Detroit IMSA: Nasr/Curran beat Acuras, MSR 1-2 in GTD
IMSA
IMSA
Detroit
Detroit IMSA: Nasr/Curran beat Acuras, MSR 1-2 in GTD
More from
RealTime Racing
Cameron to make Acura debut in an NSX
Endurance
Endurance
Laguna Seca
Cameron to make Acura debut in an NSX
Legge joins Acura, as marque reveals IMSA, PWC lineups
IMSA
IMSA
Legge joins Acura, as marque reveals IMSA, PWC lineups
O’Connell: “We’ll need some luck” to win fifth PWC title
SRO America
SRO America
Laguna Seca
O’Connell: “We’ll need some luck” to win fifth PWC title
Latest news
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
30 min
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 34 min
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
45 min
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
McLaren to use final 2026 developments to test 2027 F1 car concepts
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
McLaren to use final 2026 developments to test 2027 F1 car concepts
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe