Motorsport News
Altenburg Gives Mazda 6 First Speed Touring Car Win At Mazda Raceway
By Source: SCCA
Oct 17, 2004, 22:10

Jeff Altenburg, of Ellicott City, Md., gave the new Mazda 6 its first SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car victory, while also grabbing his second-career SPEED Touring Car win in the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, as part of the Audi Sports Car Championships. Defending series Champion Bill Auberlen, of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., captured his second Drivers’ Championship in as many years.

It was cloudy and cool for the start of the final round of the SPEED Touring Car season, as polewinner Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., got a great start and led into turn one. In fact, the three-time series Champion led the first 21 laps of the 26-lap event before he slid wide in turn 11, allowing Altenburg, Peter Cunningham, of West Bend, Wis., and Memo Gidley of Novato, Calif., to pass him. Kleinubing dropped to fourth and never recovered. Although the track was damp for the start of the race, due to light rain earlier in the morning, just moments before Kleinubing slid wide, there were reports that it started to rain lightly on the course.

Now in the lead, Altenburg had to push his No. 72 Tri-Point Racing/Mazdaspeed Mazda 6 over the remaining six laps, to stay in front of Cunningham and bring home the win. Altenburg won by 1.287 seconds over Cunningham averaging 72.250 mph.

“He just went wide,” Altenburg said of his pass on Kleinubing. “But, earlier I had closed up on him a couple of times. I had a little bit better brakes than him [Kleinubing] and one time he broke a little earlier than I thought he was going to in turn one and I kind of got into him. So, I backed off and let him back in, trying to be sportsmanlike. But, he just went wide [in turn 11] a little bit later and that’s when we got him. Then Peter [Cunningham] started coming and I knew I had to drive as hard as I could to keep that gap. I wasn’t leaving anything on the table. Maybe on the last lap I backed it down a little bit.”


“If there is going to be a race to win, it’s this one,” Altenburg said of giving Mazda a win at a Mazda track. “I guess we pick the right ones to win.”

En route to his second-career win, Altenburg also set a new fast race lap record with a time of 1:39.446 (81.016 mph), breaking the record (1:44.708, 76.945 mph) he set last year by more than five seconds. This effort won Altenburg the UrbanRacer.com Hot Lap award.

Cunningham, who started on the outside of row one in his No. 4 NISMO/TeamRTR Nissan Sentra SE-R, spent the first 13 laps chasing Kleinubing before he made contact with the tire wall at the exit of turn six and fell to fifth. Not to be denied, Cunningham put his head down, and seven laps later, he found himself back in third. One lap later, Cunningham benefited from Kleinubing’s turn 11 bobble and moved to second, which is where he ended the day.

Piloting the No. 48 U.S. Air Force Reserve Ford Focus from his fifth starting spot, Gidley got a good start and had moved to third heading into turn one on lap one. This was a position he would hold for the first six laps before having to battle Altenburg, Justin Marks, of San Francisco, and Cunningham for the remainder of the race. Gidley’s third-place finish was his career-best in a SPEED Touring Car.

Despite his mistake in the late stages of the race, Kleinubing still finished fourth, while Marks finished fifth.

Auberlen, who won the Drivers’ Championship following this race a year ago, grabbed the early lead this season with wins at Sebring, Lime Rock and Infineon Raceway and never looked back. His eighth place finish today was good enough to help him earn his second-career Drivers’ Championship.

“Winning the Championship this year was even better than last year because it was so much harder than last year,” Auberlen said of winning his second consecutive Championship. “Trying to redo what you’ve already done is really difficult to do. But, man it feels good.”

Auberlen amassed 251 points to win the SPEED Touring Car Championship, followed by Nic Jonsson (234), Matt Plumb (214), James Sofronas (196) and Cunningham (188).

Dino Crescentini, of Malibu, Calif., won the Rookie of the Year award.

Rookie Kenny Yim, of Arcadia, Calif., won the Sunoco Hard Charger of the Race award for advancing nine positions throughout the race. Scott Bradley, of San Jose, Calif., won the B&M Holeshot award for advancing 10 positions on the first lap of the race.

BMW won the SPEED Touring Manufacturers’ Championship Presented by Racer Magazine.

Today’s race will air at 4:00 a.m. (EDT), Thursday, Oct. 21 on SPEED Channel.

Results from Sunday 26-lap, 58.188-mile SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship Round 10 Race, part of the Audi Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with finishing position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, class, car, laps complete, distance behind winner and reason out (if any).


1. (4), Jeff Altenburg, Ellicott City, Md., Mazda 6, 26.

2. (3), Peter Cunningham, W. Bend, Wis., Sentra SE-R, 26, -1.287.

3. (5), Memo Gidley, Novato, Calif., Ford Focus, 26, -2.851.

4. (1), Pierre Kleinubing, Coconut Creek, Fla., Acura TSX, 26, -5.756.

5. (8), Justin Marks, San Francisco, Calif., BMW 325i, 26, -6.04.

6. (6), James Sofronas, Newport Beach, Calif., BMW 325Ci, 26, -9.99.

7. (15), Ken Dobson, Carmel Valley, Calif., Acura TSX, 26, -10.318.

8. (12), Bill Auberlen, Rolling Hills Est, Calif., BMW 325i, 26, -10.721.

9. (9), James Clay, Blacksburg, Va., BMW 325i, 26, -11.211.

10. (10), Nic Jonsson, Buford, Ga., BMW 325Ci, 26, -14.843.

11. (11), Paul Lambert, Sonoma, Calif., Audi A4, 26, -15.365.

12. (16), Charles Espenlaub, Lutz, Fla., Mazda ProtegeES, 26, -17.116.

13. (2), Shauna Marinus, Folsom, Calif., Mazda 6, 26, -21.688.

14. (22), Scott Poirier(R), Deerfield, Fla., Mercedes C230, 26, -23.45.

15. (18), Seth Thomas(R), Cumming, Ga., BMW 325i, 26, -25.279.

16. (24), Victor Contreras, San Juan, Puerto Rico, BMW 325Ci, 26, -32.846.

17. (25), Nick Esayian(R), Encinitas, Calif., Acura RSX, 26, -37.923.

18. (26), Peter Lockhart, Canada,   , Mercedes C230, 26, -38.621.

19. (14), Matt Richmond, Mooresville, N.C., BMW 325i, 26, -39.4.

20. (7), Bob Stretch, Dallas, Texas, BMW 325Ci, 26, -41.905.

21. (20), Dino Crescentini(R), Malibu, Calif., BMW 325i, 26, -54.045.

22. (13), Rick Maki(R), Santa Monica, Calif., Audi A4, 26, -57.286.

23. (23), Kevin Mckee, San Francisco, Calif., BMW 325i, 26, -57.365.

24. (21), Jon Prall, Cupertino, Calif., BMW 325is, 26, -1:01.1300.

25. (30), Brett Erickson(R), Sunnyvale, Calif., Volkswagen GTI, 26, -1:03.521.

26. (34), Kenny Yim(R), Arcadia, Calif., Honda Civic, 26, -1:44.545.

27. (17), Chip Herr(R), Lititz, Pa., Acura RSX, 24, -2 laps.

28. (35), Scott Bradley, San Jose, Calif., Mazda ProtegeES, 22, -4 laps.

29. (19), Scott Fredricksen(R), Gastonia, N.C., Mazda ProtegeES, 20, -6 laps.

30. (33), Peter Bovenberg, Campbell, Calif., Honda Civic Si, 17, -9 laps.

31. (31), Brandon Peterson(R), Breckenridge, Colo., Honda Civic Si, 14, -12 laps.

32. (27), Seth Neiman(R), Woodside, Calif., BMW 325Ci, 10, -16 laps.

33. (32), Justin Elin(R), Port Orchard, Wash., Honda Civic, 5, -21 laps.

34. (36), Brian Smith(R), Simpsonville, S.C., Dodge SRT-4, 0, -26 laps.

35. (37), Steven Bernheim(R), N. Hollywood, Calif., BMW 325i, 0, -26 laps.

36. (29), Andrew Monterrubio, Red Bluff, Calif., Acura Integra R, 0, -26 laps.

37. (28), Mike Davis(R), Marina Del Ray, Calif., Honda Civic, 0, -26 laps.


Time of race: 48 minutes, 19.310 seconds.
Average speed: 72.250 mph
Margin of victory: 1.287 Seconds
Lap leaders: Laps 1-20, #42 Pierre Kleinubing; laps 21-26, #72 Jeff Altenburg
UrbanRacer.com Hot Lap (Fast lap): #72 Jeff Altenburg, 1:39.446 (81.016 mph)
Fastest qualifier: #42 Pierre Kleinubing, 1:38.261 (81.993 mph)
Cautions: Two for five laps
B&M Holeshot Winner: #13 Scott Bradley advanced 10 positions on the start
Sunoco Hard Charger: #06 Kenny Yim advanced nine positions in the race


Final SCCA SPEED Touring Car Drivers’ Standings

Ps, Driver, Car, Pts (Wins)

1, Bill Auberlen, BMW 325i, 251 (3)
2, Nic Jonsson, BMW 325Ci, 234 (1)
3, Matt Plumb, Acura TSX, 214 (2)
4, James Sofronas, BMW 325Ci, 196
5, Peter Cunningham, Sentra SE-R, 188 (1)
6, Justin Marks, BMW 325i, 187
7, Pierre Kleinubing, Acura TSX, 174 (2)
8, Jeff Altenburg, Mazda 6, 156 (1)
9, Bob Stretch, BMW 325Ci, 143
10, Dino Crescentini(R), BMW 325i, 130

Final SPEED Touring Car Manufacturers’ Championship Presented by Racer Magazine

Pos., Manufacturer, Points

1, BMW, 69
2, Acura, 54
3, Nissan, 34
4, Mazda, 27

© Copyright 2003 by YourSITE.com