Virginia: Friday Touring practice summary

Altenburg tops Speed Touring Car practice at Virginia

Alton, Va., (October 25, 2002) -- Jeff Altenburg, of Ellicott City, Md., paced the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge field in afternoon practice today for Sunday's season-finale at Virginia International Raceway, in Alton, Va. Will Turner, of Newburport, Ma., and Peter Cunningham, of W. Bend, Wis., completed the top three.

In a light mist, the 40-car field took to the track for the second of two practice sessions. Early in the 20-minute session, Altenburg put together a quick lap of 2:11.550, before Cunningham moved to the top of the time sheets a few minutes later. With nine minutes remaining, Altenburg regained the top spot, and would go on to better his own time one lap later, with a lap of 2:10.588 (90.146 mph).

"Our gearing to come out of the corners is not as good as the Acuras and BMWs but our straight-line speed is an advantage," said Altenburg. "This session, I know I picked up a lot of speed in the esses, which is a real white knuckler.

"At TriPoint, the three of us [including teammates Bonaccorsi and Marinus] look at data and share information. It's a great benefit. It never fails that someone is faster in one corner and then we can all benefit. The free flow of communication is as important as performance modification--it tightens the nut behind the wheel."

In the morning practice session, the SPEED Touring Car field had to deal with a wet track surface that kept times down compared to the afternoon session. Shauna Marinus, of Folsom, Calif., was quickest in the early session but had an off-course excursion, and damaged the front of her Mazda Protege. She ended up ninth in the combined practice times.

Pierre Kleinubing, of Erexim, Brazil, and Ken Dobson, of Carmel Valley, Calif., completed the top five.

The SPEED World Challenge Touring Car takes to the 3.27-mile circuit tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. [eastern] for Woody's Ice Pole Qualifying.

-scca pro racing-