2010 Virginia International Raceway

There were many changes to the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge Championship in 2010. The first was the series title. The relationship with Speed TV had come to an end. The series new television partner was VERSUS, which aired ninety-minute spots of all twelve races on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The decline in entries over the last two seasons resulted in the introduction of a third category and a reclassification of some cars. The newest division was called Grand Touring Sport and fit in between Grand Touring and Touring Car.

Grand Touring (GT) – This group included the series quickest cars: Porsche 911 GT3, Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, Nissan GT-R and Volvo S60. The preparation rules remained unchanged from the previous year for these vehicles.
Grand Touring Sport (GTS) – These were many of the cars that competed in last year’s Touring Car class (Acura TSX, Honda Civic, BMW 325i and Mazda 6). Competitors from the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge were also able to participate using the Ford Mustang FR500S.
Touring Car (TC) – Touring Cars were not allowed many of the modifications permitted by the 2009 rules. The preparation of the vehicles was more closely aligned with Grand-Am Cup and the Sports Car Club of America’s Improved Touring classes. Makes competing in the category included the Scion tC, Mazda RX-8, Honda Civic, Mazda Speed 3, Volkswagen Jetta and Golf.

2010 also marked the end of races for each group. In the new season, all classes competed in the same contest – 1996 was the last time that different categories competed together.

The World Challenge Championship kicked off at St. Petersburg, Florida, in March as a support event for the IndyCar series. In previous years, the series shared race weekends with the American Le Mans Series, but in 2010 World Challenge began competing at more IndyCar venues. The season ended mid-September at Miller Motorsports Park. In all, there were a total of twelve races at eight different tracks (Streets of St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Mosport, Watkins Glen, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Virginia International Raceway and Miller Motorsports Park).

Rounds ten and eleven of the 2010 World Challenge champion were conducted at Virginia International Raceway. Competitors in the Grand Touring, Grand Touring Sport and Touring Car classes would race in two forty-minute contests around the eighteen-turn 3.270-mile road course.

Thirty-two drivers prepare for the start of Sunday’s race (round eleven) at Virginia International Raceway. On the pole is the No. 8 K-PAX Racing Volvo S60 of Andy Pilgrim. Gridded next to Pilgrim is Kuno Wittmer in a Dodge Viper. Behind the front row is 2008 Grand Touring Series champion, Randy Pobst in the second K-PAX entry. Out of view and sharing the second row with Pobst is the GMG Porsche driven by James Sofronas.

A red flag at the beginning of the Grand Touring qualifying session prevented drivers from recording a time. The Grand Touring line-up for round ten was determined by points which gave Randy Pobst the pole position. Pobst would lead all twenty-two laps of the race to take his fourth victory of the season. On Sunday, he started third and finished second which was enough to clinch the 2010 World Challenge Grand Touring championship.

After the Virginia International Raceway weekend, Touring car competitor, Todd Buras was four for four. Buras entered the first two rounds at Saint Petersburg driving the Irish Mike’s Racing Volkswagen Jetta GLI and won both races. At VIR, he qualified on the Touring car pole for rounds ten and eleven. Despite pressure from Touring Car point’s leader, Robert Stout, Buras was able to take the class victory both days.

GTS point’s leader, Peter Cunningham could clinch the class championship at VIR . Cunningham was the fastest GTS competitor in the two practice sessions and qualifying. In round ten, he was leading the category when he pitted with a mechanical issue – Cunningham was classified fourth. The following day, he added to the World Challenge record books by winning his forty-first pole-position, fortieth race and sixth championship.

Andy Pilgrim leads his teammate, Randy Pobst, through turn three. In weekend’s first event, Pilgrim started fifth in Grand Touring and captured the final spot on the podium. Starting on the pole Sunday, Pilgrim led flag to flag in the K-PAX Racing Volvo S60 and won by a margin of 1.392-seconds. The victory was especially satisfying for Pilgrim as it was his first win during what had been a disappointing season.

Ernie Jakubowski’s first victory was short lived. On Saturday Jakubowski started from the rear of the GTS field but moved into the class lead and took the win when Peter Cunningham retired. In post-race inspection, officials found the Porsche’s ride height was not within specifications and the engine seal was broken - Jakubowski was disqualified. Corrections were made to the Porsche overnight and the following day he finished third in class.

In round ten, Nick Esayian started second in the GTS category. During the race Esayian found himself battling with the Porsche Cayman of Ernie Jakubowski for the third position. The retirement of his teammate, Peter Cunningham promoted him to second and he moved to first in class after Jakubowski’s Porsche failed the post-race technical inspection. This was Esayian’s first win in seventy-five starts. On Sunday, he finished second in class.

Touring Car championship point’s leader Robert Stout could only manage the sixth fastest time in practice. During qualifying, his lap times improved and he was gridded second in class for round ten. At the start, Stout passed category pole-sitter Todd Buras but before the end of the first lap, he was back in second place where he would remain to the checkered flag. The results were the same the following day but Stout scored enough points to secure the title.

Kevin Helms had participated in the Saint Petersburg and Mid-Ohio rounds but his best results would occur at Virginia International Raceway. In the weekend’s first event, driving the No. 04 Acura RSX, Helms was gridded fourth in GTS. The retirement of Peter Cunningham and exclusion of Ernie Jakubowski promoted him to second in class. The following day he started fifth and finished fourth in GTS.

Driving the No. 28 Whitehall Stable Acura TSX was Brett Sandberg. In the weekend’s first event, Sandberg started sixth in the Touring category and twenty-seventh overall. At the checkered flag, he earned his first series podium finish with a third place. In round eleven, Sandberg started and finished sixth in class.

When the Grand Touring qualifying session was cancelled, James Sofronas driving the GMG Porsche 911 GT3 inherited the fourth starting position by virtue of his points. During race one, Sofronas passed Andy Pilgrim for second place and maintained the spot to the checkered flag - this earned him the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race award. At the start of round eleven, Sofronas spun in turn one and fell back to ninth place but he finished third in class.

Robb Holland drove the 303 Motorsports/Track Pro/Emich VW Volkswagen GTI. Holland started thirtieth overall and passed the most cars (twelve) in round ten. His performance earned him a fourth in Touring and the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start and the Sunoco Hard Charger awards. In the weekend’s final event, Holland captured the final spot on the Touring Car podium.

It would be difficult but Kuno Wittmer still had a mathematical chance of catching Randy Pobst in the title chase. Wittmer started second in round ten, however it began to rain during the race and he drove off the course – he still managed to finish fourth. On Sunday, Wittmer qualified second but spun chasing the race leader, Andy Pilgrim. He retired with a mechanical problem on lap-19 – with this, Wittmer’s championship hopes ended.

Tommy Sadler drove the No. 44 RealTime Racing Acura TSX. In round ten, Sadler started fifth in GTS but inherited a third place finish when his teammate, Peter Cunningham encountered mechanical issues and the Porsche of Ernie Jakubowski was disqualified. During of Sunday’s race, he was involved in starting line incident with Greg Shaffer that damaged the car – Sadler would finish twenty-fourth overall and fifth in class.

Saturday’s World Challenge Grand Touring podium. In the center is K-PAX Racing’s Randy Pobst who earned his fourth victory of the 2010 season. To Pobst’s right is James Sofronas who captured a well-deserved second place after battling with Pobst’s teammate, Andy Pilgrim. Completing the podium is the driver of the No. 8 K-PAX Volvo, Andy Pilgrim.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	1	GT	Randy Pobst	Volvo S60	22	-
2	3	GT	James Sofronas	Porsche 911 GT3	22	-
3	5	GT	Andy Pilgrim	Volvo S60	22	-
4	2	GT	Kuno Wittmer	Dodge Viper	22	-
5	7	GT	Rob Morgan	Porsche 911 GT3	22	-
6	6	GT	Jason Daskalos	Dodge Viper	22	-
7	8	GT	Jeff Courtney	Dodge Viper	22	-
8	9	GT	Tony Gaples	Chevrolet Corvette	22	-
9	10	GT	Fred Roberts	Dodge Viper	21	-
10	11	GT	William Ziegler	Porsche 911 GT3	21	-
11	16	GTS	Nick Esayian	Acura TSX	20	-
12	18	GTS	Kevin Helms	Acura RSX	20	-
13	22	TC	Todd Buras	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	20	-
14	23	TC	Robert Stout	Scion tC	20	-
15	19	GTS	Tommy Sadler	Acura TSX	20	-
16	15	GTS	Peter Cunningham	Acura TSX	20	-
17	27	TC	Brett Sandberg	Acura TSX	20	-
18	30	TC	Robb Holland	Volkswagen GTI	20	-
19	26	TC	Greg Shaffer	Scion tC	20	-
20	24	TC	Devin Cates	Volkswagen GTI	20	-
21	13	GT	Jeff Altenburg	Porsche 911 GT3	20	-
22	26	TC	Carl Hober	Scion tC	20	-
23	28	TC	Michael Pettiford	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	19	-
24	31	TC	Shea Holbrook	Honda Civic Si	19	-
25	35	TC	Don Istook	Volkswagen GTI	19	-
26	34	TC	Tristan Herbert	Lexus IS300	19	-
27	33	TC	Charlie Solomon	Mazda RX-8	19	-
28	36	TC	Carolyn Kujala	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	19	-
29	37	TC	Colin Cohen	Volkswagen GTI	19	-
30	20	GTS	Stan Wilson	Dodge Neon SRT	12	Mechanical
31	13	GT	Tomy Drissi	Chevrolet Corvette	9	Mechanical
32	32	TC	Jose M Armengol	Honda Civic Si	5	Mechanical
33	25	TC	Eric Meyer	Mazda RX-8	1	Mechanical
DQ	21	GTS	Ernie Jakubowski	Porsche Cayman S	20	-
34	4	GT	Patrick Lindsey	Porsche 911 GT3	0	Did Not Start
35	8	GTS	Karl Poeltl	BMW E46 325i	0	Did Not Start

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	1	GT	Andy Pilgrim	Volvo S60	22	-
2	3	GT	Randy Pobst	Volvo S60	22	-
3	4	GT	James Sofronas	Porsche 911 GT3	22	-
4	8	GT	Jeff Altenburg	Porsche 911 GT3	22	-
5	7	GT	Rob Morgan	Porsche 911 GT3	22	-
6	10	GT	Jeff Courtney	Dodge Viper	22	-
7	5	GT	Tony Gaples	Chevrolet Corvette	22	-
8	11	GT	Fred Roberts	Dodge Viper	22	-
9	12	GT	William Ziegler	Porsche 911 GT3	22	-
10	13	GTS	Peter Cunningham	Acura TSX	21	-
11	14	GTS	Nick Esayian	Acura TSX	21	-
12	15	GTS	Ernie Jakubowski	Porsche Cayman S	21	-
13	16	GTS	Kevin Helms	Acura RSX	21	-
14	18	TC	Todd Buras	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	21	-
15	20	TC	Robert Stout	Scion tC	21	-
16	21	TC	Robb Holland	Volkswagen GTI	21	-
17	24	TC	Michael Pettiford	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	21	-
18	26	TC	Branden Peterson	Scion tC	21	-
19	30	TC	Charlie Solomon	Mazda RX-8	21	-
20	22	TC	Brett Sandberg	Acura TSX	21	-
21	28	TC	Don Istook	Volkswagen GTI	21	-
22	27	TC	David Tuaty	Honda Civic Si	21	Mechanical
23	32	TC	Colin Cohen	Volkswagen GTI	20	-
24	17	GTS	Tommy Sadler	Acura TSX	20	-
25	31	TC	Carolyn Kujala	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	20	-
26	2	GT	Kuno Wittmer	Dodge Viper	19	Mechanical
27	6	GT	Jason Daskalos	Dodge Viper	12	Mechanical
28	29	TC	Tristan Herbert	Lexus IS300	5	Mechanical
29	23	TC	Devin Cates	Volkswagen GTI	4	Mechanical
30	19	TC	Greg Shaffer	Scion tC	0	Accident
31	25	TC	Shea Holbrook	Honda Civic Si	0	Accident
32	33	TC	Eric Meyer	Mazda RX-8	0	Mechanical
33	9	GT	Tomy Drissi	Chevrolet Corvette	0	Did Not Start

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