Mid-Ohio, Lexington, Ohio.— Kuno Wittmer was back at Mid-Ohio last weekend and had an almost perfect outing in the World Challenge #44 RealTime Acura, winning his third race of the season and leading again in the standings. Starting on front row beside pole sitter Peter Cunningham, he had a quick launch and was in the lead by the second turn. He was pressured for the remaining 27 laps by Cunningham but managed to hold his teammate and won by a one-second slim margin. Now in his third season in the World Challenge, the 25-year old Montreal driver sits atop the standings with a 23-point lead on Cunningham and 57 more than fellow RealTime teammate Pierre Kleinubing who did not score points after he was taken out of the race by another competitor.
“That’s what I call pressure!” admitted Wittmer. “I had a very strong start and was side by side with Peter in the first turn; that carried us into turn two where I was inside and took advantage of my position to take the lead. I was stretching my lead to a few seconds when we had a full-course yellow. From then to the end, I had Peter filling my mirrors and had to be perfect. Any error would translate into third or fourth place. At RealTime, we respect any one of us who is leading a race but not to the point of slowing down if he goes off. And I’m truly sorry for Peter: he was taken out on the second lap by another car that lost control and did not score points. This is not the way we want the championship to be decided; we want to fight it off on the track. Finally, I have to thank the RealTime crew who gave us exceptional cars: the lead we have in the Manufacturers standings is a tribute to their hard work.”
Kuno: the time of his life:
Wittmer is having his best year ever. The numbers are self-evident: he has entered three very competitive series (18 races) with different cars, earning 5 outright victories, 12 podiums, 15 Top-5 and no DNF. He is the first Canadian to score three wins in World Challenge – previously Richard Spenard had two. He is the first Canadian to lead the standings in this series.
His brother Nick is also doing pretty well after 8 races. He took part in three series with two different machines : that spells 3 class wins and 6 Top-10.
Road America and Iowa Speedway coming up:
It will be a few weeks before the Wittmer brothers are racing again. Programs are scheduled at Road America and Iowa Speedway on the weekend of August 8 to 10. Kuno will head to Elkhart Lake for the next SCCA Speed World Challenge round in his #44 Realtime Acura while brother Nick will be in Newton for the next meeting of the Grand-Am ST Koni Challenge. On Sunday, Kuno and teammate Cunningham will travel between venues to start their I-Moto Acura from the back of the field. “Grand-Am races are long and we can start from the back since we cannot be in Newton for the qualifying session” he says.
The Wittmer brothers will take to the track next at Road America and Iowa Speedway from August 8th to 10th. Their web site is accessible at http://www.kunickautosport.com.
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