nicole@Tri-Point
05-06-2009, 05:43 PM
Saini puts MAZDA6 on top in New Jersey
CANOGA PARK, CA (May 5, 2009) After a solid season-opener in Sebring, Tri-Point’s Jason Saini stormed to victory in Round 2 of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Saini’s second career World Challenge victory catapulted him into the drivers’ points lead and brought Mazda within striking distance of series-rival Acura in the Manufacturer’s Championship.
http://www.tripointmotorsports.com/images/saininj.jpg
“It’s awesome to be on the podium again and get another win for Mazda,” said Saini after climbing from the No. 74 MAZDASPEED/StopTech/Racing Hart MAZDA6. His qualifying position of third remained unchanged despite a coin-toss inversion of the top five starting positions, and after a thrilling standing start, went to work on 2008 series champ Peter Cunningham.
“At the start, I ended up sandwiched between Peter and Aquilante in the Subaru; it was definitely an eat-or-be-eaten situation because I was trying to find a way around Peter and at the same time defend against the Subaru behind me. On about the third lap, Aquilante had a good run on me coming onto the front straight, but luckily I also had some momentum on Peter in front of me and rather than defend against Aquilante, I just made a move to pass Peter going into Turn One. Luckily that’s how it shook out and from then on, Peter was the one who had to hold off Aquilante.”
“The team did a great job getting everything together for this race, and I have to thank Mazda for helping us get to these events,” said Jason, “We’re all still working on sponsorship for the rest of this season, and partnering with Mazda and Tri-Point would be a great way to promote your product.“
Teammate Eric Foss in the No. 75 MAZDA6 was not far behind, advancing to sixth in the opening 3 laps after starting tenth. Eric racalls, “People were making a couple of mistakes out there and I was able to capitalize on them early. I made my way to Charles [Espenlaub] who was in fifth, and probably got a little too anxious at that point and I went wide once, allowing Pierre [Kleinubing] to get by me. “
“I was kicking myself for losing that spot,” remarked Foss, who then refocused on making up lost ground. “I got back into a rhythm but it cost me a lot of time and it took quite a few laps to close the gap back to Pierre. We were both pushing really hard, and when he would make a mistake, I’d push harder and make a mistake myself. I had some huge slides and probably mowed more grass today than I have in the rest of my driving career,” he joked.
Charles Espenlaub, pilot of the No. 73, was the first Mazda driver to benefit from the newly instated coin-toss inversion after qualifying, which meant his fourth-best qualifying lap put him into the #2 spot for the start of the race after the first five qualifying positions were reversed. Unfortunately, that was the end of his good fortune in New Jersey.
“I lost a couple of positions on the standing start, and was almost immediately under attack from Pierre,” said Espenlaub. “He would make a mistake, and I’d be able to open up a gap, but within a lap he would always be right there again. After about 10 laps of that, the shift linkage broke and I had to duck into the pits for a repair, which put me down a lap. Comptech builds a heck of an engine – it was revved to over 10k rpm when the shifter failed, and it ran the rest of the race flawlessly and on-pace with the leaders.”
Now in the points lead, the Tri-Point squad eagerly awaits Rounds 3 and 4 of the SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship north of the border at Mosport, May 15-17 where they will try to extend their pair of podium visits into a streak, and put Mazda back on top of the Manufacturer’s Championship.
TV air times on SPEED:
Round 1 – Sebring: May 11, 12pm EST.
Round 2 – New Jersey: May 22, 2pm EST.
Sponsors
The Tri-Point team is proudly supported by the following sponsors whose involvement is critical to the team’s 2009 efforts and continued success.
Mazda, MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development, Racing Hart, Comptech, ZF Sachs, StopTech, Sparco, Chase Cam, Crocotile, Quarter Master, Ron Davis Racing, Pro Parts USA, Mazdas247.com, and Race Sign Specialists.
Release Contact:
Andris Laivins
Tri-Point Engineering
CANOGA PARK, CA (May 5, 2009) After a solid season-opener in Sebring, Tri-Point’s Jason Saini stormed to victory in Round 2 of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Saini’s second career World Challenge victory catapulted him into the drivers’ points lead and brought Mazda within striking distance of series-rival Acura in the Manufacturer’s Championship.
http://www.tripointmotorsports.com/images/saininj.jpg
“It’s awesome to be on the podium again and get another win for Mazda,” said Saini after climbing from the No. 74 MAZDASPEED/StopTech/Racing Hart MAZDA6. His qualifying position of third remained unchanged despite a coin-toss inversion of the top five starting positions, and after a thrilling standing start, went to work on 2008 series champ Peter Cunningham.
“At the start, I ended up sandwiched between Peter and Aquilante in the Subaru; it was definitely an eat-or-be-eaten situation because I was trying to find a way around Peter and at the same time defend against the Subaru behind me. On about the third lap, Aquilante had a good run on me coming onto the front straight, but luckily I also had some momentum on Peter in front of me and rather than defend against Aquilante, I just made a move to pass Peter going into Turn One. Luckily that’s how it shook out and from then on, Peter was the one who had to hold off Aquilante.”
“The team did a great job getting everything together for this race, and I have to thank Mazda for helping us get to these events,” said Jason, “We’re all still working on sponsorship for the rest of this season, and partnering with Mazda and Tri-Point would be a great way to promote your product.“
Teammate Eric Foss in the No. 75 MAZDA6 was not far behind, advancing to sixth in the opening 3 laps after starting tenth. Eric racalls, “People were making a couple of mistakes out there and I was able to capitalize on them early. I made my way to Charles [Espenlaub] who was in fifth, and probably got a little too anxious at that point and I went wide once, allowing Pierre [Kleinubing] to get by me. “
“I was kicking myself for losing that spot,” remarked Foss, who then refocused on making up lost ground. “I got back into a rhythm but it cost me a lot of time and it took quite a few laps to close the gap back to Pierre. We were both pushing really hard, and when he would make a mistake, I’d push harder and make a mistake myself. I had some huge slides and probably mowed more grass today than I have in the rest of my driving career,” he joked.
Charles Espenlaub, pilot of the No. 73, was the first Mazda driver to benefit from the newly instated coin-toss inversion after qualifying, which meant his fourth-best qualifying lap put him into the #2 spot for the start of the race after the first five qualifying positions were reversed. Unfortunately, that was the end of his good fortune in New Jersey.
“I lost a couple of positions on the standing start, and was almost immediately under attack from Pierre,” said Espenlaub. “He would make a mistake, and I’d be able to open up a gap, but within a lap he would always be right there again. After about 10 laps of that, the shift linkage broke and I had to duck into the pits for a repair, which put me down a lap. Comptech builds a heck of an engine – it was revved to over 10k rpm when the shifter failed, and it ran the rest of the race flawlessly and on-pace with the leaders.”
Now in the points lead, the Tri-Point squad eagerly awaits Rounds 3 and 4 of the SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship north of the border at Mosport, May 15-17 where they will try to extend their pair of podium visits into a streak, and put Mazda back on top of the Manufacturer’s Championship.
TV air times on SPEED:
Round 1 – Sebring: May 11, 12pm EST.
Round 2 – New Jersey: May 22, 2pm EST.
Sponsors
The Tri-Point team is proudly supported by the following sponsors whose involvement is critical to the team’s 2009 efforts and continued success.
Mazda, MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development, Racing Hart, Comptech, ZF Sachs, StopTech, Sparco, Chase Cam, Crocotile, Quarter Master, Ron Davis Racing, Pro Parts USA, Mazdas247.com, and Race Sign Specialists.
Release Contact:
Andris Laivins
Tri-Point Engineering