Canadian Wittmer Touring Car Champ in Toronto
Kuno Wittmer, of Montreal, Quebec, in the series’s first visit to the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto made the most of his former track experience at Exhibition Place to take the lead in the practice held for Round Six of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship. Ian Baas of Noblesville, Ind., and Roberto Santos, of Monterrey, Mexico, came in second and third fastest, respectively.
It was the already the sixth time that Wittmer would be racing on the streets of Toronto in the entire length of his career. He climbed to the top of scoring monitors shortly after the first of two red flags in the 30-minute session. The flag was displayed for the No. 29 Global Motorsports Group BMW 325Ci of James Sofronas who is from Newport Beach, Calif. and whose engine died down on him on the first lap and literally stopped dead on its tracks on course in Turn Six.
Wittmer continued to take a leading role in the session while concomittantly improving his time. The No. 44 Acura Certified Pre-Owned pilot finished up the session with a fast lap of 1:21.603 (77.423 mph) on his final tour around the street course that was 1.755 in miles.
“I definitely have the most experience here,” Wittmer was heard saying. “But at this level of racing, it’s so competitive and it’s only a matter of time before the other guys come up to speed. I think in qualifying I’ll be getting a lot more pressure, especially from my teammates, because they’ll be right there with me in speed.
Still, Wittmer has already garnered considerable success at Exhibition Place before, when he won the Honda Challenge race here in 2005 on his way to taking the series Championship. But the Canadian entertains no grand illusions of a clean sweep at Toronto for the week to come.
“I’ve always liked street courses. I think my car is suited pretty good to this track and I’ve had a pretty good history on street courses as far as driving goes. I like this track, it has a good flow to it. The last three corners, the way you build up momentum is fun, so I’ve got nothing negative to say about this track.”
“Starting qualifying in seventh, because I’m seventh in the points, might be a little bit of a problem, especially since the front guys aren’t up to speed yet. It’s not their fault, it’s just a matter of learning the track and we didn’t get much time in today’s practice. I think I’m going to just keep a gap and then go on my own, maybe get two or three laps.”
In his best form so far all throughout the season, Baas put his No. 18 PFAFF/STaSIS/Clear Capital Audi A4 second on the time sheets. Fresh from a Rolex GT race at Daytona Thursday night, Baas made a time of 1:21.868 (77.173 mph).
For other notables, the four-time World Challenge Champion Peter Cunningham of Grafton, Wis., finished as the fourth fastest with a lap of 1:22.434 (76.643 mph) in his No. 42 Acura Certified Pre-Owned Acura TSX. Lime Rock race winner Chip Herr, of Lititz, Pa., completed the top five in his No. 17 PFAFF/STaSIS/Clear Capital Audi A4 with a time of 1:22.443 (76.634 mph).