2006 Saint Petersburg - World Challenge GT

2006 marked the seventeenth season for the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) very successful SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge series. With SPEED TV back on board as the primary sponsor, SCCA had developed a successful format that continued to attract competitors and fans.

Race weekends included two standing start fifty-minute races – one for the Grand Touring (GT) class and another for Touring Cars (TC).

Grand Touring (GT) – The GT class rules accommodate a variety of vehicles from different manufacturers. Engine displacements range from the 2.5-liter turbocharged Volvo S60R to the Dodge Viper with an 8.3-liter V10 motor. While most of the cars are rear-wheel drive, the series also permits all-wheel-drive vehicles such as the Nissan Skyline GT-R, Porsche 911 AWD TT, Subaru WRX STI and Volvo S60R. A majority of the competitors race the Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup or Dodge Viper.
Touring Car (TC) – The Touring Cars were limited to an engine displacement of 2.8-liters. Vehicles originally equipped with turbocharged or supercharged motors are also homologated for the series. The class is split predominantly between front-wheel-drive cars from Acura, Honda, and Mazda and the rear wheel drives such as the BMW 325. Also proving very competitive is the all-wheel-drive Audi A4.

To prevent any driver/car combination from dominating the class and ensuring tight competition, the R.E.W.A.R.D.S. System is implemented. Introduced in 1995, R.E.W.A.R.D.S. is the acronym for ‘Rewarding of Equalizing Weight Assigned to Reduce Driver Sensitivity.' This weight equalization rule adds or removes ballast from a car based on the finishing position of a driver. The maximum amount of weight that can be removed from a vehicle is 100-pounds. And, no more than 200-pounds can be added to a GT class car and 150-pounds to a Touring Car.

There were eleven-race weekends during the 2006 season – ten-races for the two classes. The Touring cars did not compete at Long Beach and the GT class was not invited to the Denver event. The opening round is in March at Sebring International Raceway, followed by a second event in Florida at Saint Petersburg. The GT category has a race at Long Beach in April and rejoins the Touring Car division for a race weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In July, the championship takes a trip to the West Coast for an event Infineon Raceway. Competitors stay in the West for races at the new Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. Teams return to the East for events at Road America and Mosport International Raceway. Next, the Touring Cars make a stop at Denver, Colorado. The penultimate round is held at Road Atlanta and the series finale takes place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Round two of the 2006 Speed TV World Challenge Series took place at Honda Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg. Twenty-five Grand Touring drivers competed in a fifty-minute race around the fourteen-turn 1.800-mile temporary street course.

The start of the race was delayed when the Aston Martin DB9 of Johnny Mowlem caught fire on the formation lap.

Round two at Saint Petersburg and the Grand Touring pole-sitter, Lou Gigliotti in a Chevrolet Corvette C6 is the first to arrive at corner one. Rookie, Lawson Aschenbach who was gridded third makes a great start in the No. 66 Porsche 911 GT3 and slots in behind Gigliotti. Fourth place starter, Johnny O’Connell tucks in behind the lead pair and the second fastest qualifier, Tom Archer in the Dodge Viper goes wide.

Rookie, Lawson Aschenbach drove the AXA Financial sponsored Porsche 911 GT3 and qualified third. He trailed the race leader, Lou Gigliotti until he made a successful pass on lap-16. In turn-ten, Aschenbach made a mistake that cost him three positions but he worked his way back to the front. On lap-31, the leader, Andy Pilgrim had problems with his Cadillac and Aschenbach inherited the lead and victory.

Sharing the front row with the pole-sitter, Lou Gigliotti was Tommy Archer. He drove the No. 5 Dodge SRT Viper. At the start of the race, Archer lost positions to Aschenbach, O’Connell and found himself battling with the Corvette of Leighton Reese. He made contact with Reese on lap-2 which resulted in damage to both cars. For his actions, Archer received a stop-and-go penalty and was fined ten drivers’ points.

Finishing second, 7.973-seconds behind the winner, Lawson Aschenbach was Johnny O’Connell. O’Connell started in the fourth in the XM/Mobil 1 Cadillac CTS-V but by the mid-point of the contest, he was in second place. On lap-18, he slowed with an electrical issue and dropped to sixth. Resetting the switches appeared to fix the problem and O’Connell moved through the field to capture the runner-up position.

There were two rookies driving the John Groom Porsches – Lawson Aschenbach and Ricardo Imery. Imery drove the No. 64 Porsche 911 GT3 and qualified seventh. During the race, he was able to maintain contact with the leaders. As the laps wound down, Imery was third but a spin by Gigliotti elevated him to second. A late race pass by O’Connell sent him back to a third which is where he finished.

World Challenge and Trans Am veteran, Lou Gigliotti drove the No. 28 LG ProLong Tube Headers sponsored Chevrolet Corvette C6. Gigliotti had three World Challenge titles. In qualifying, he set a new lap record and won the pole position by 0.594-seconds. Gigliotti led the early part of the race but some shuffling landed him in the runner-up spot. On the penultimate lap, he spun in corner ten and finished fourth.

Bob Woodhouse opened the season at Sebring with a excellent performance. Woodhouse driving the Woodhouse Auto Family Dodge Viper qualified ninth. He inherited a couple of positions and passed James Sofronas and Lawson Aschenbach to finish third. At Saint Petersburg, Woodhouse started tenth and it appeared that he would be fourth at the checker but a last lap pass by Lou Gigliotti dropped him to fifth.

Three rookies finished in the top-ten – the winner, Lawson Aschenbach, his teammate, Ricardo Imery and Rob Foster. Racing the No. 17 LTI Contracting Dodge Viper was Foster. He started in the twelfth grid position and drove a steady – taking advantage of some of the misfortune encountered by the other competitors. At the checkered flag, Foster was in seventh place.

2005 Speed TV Grand Touring champion, Andy Pilgrim returned with Cadillac to defend his title. Pilgrim who drove the No. 1 CTS-V and was gridded sixth for the start. As the event came to a conclusion, he was in the lead and holding off a hard-charging Lawson Aschenbach. On lap-31 of 33, the Cadillac’s ignition appeared to fail and Pilgrim pitted. He recycled the electrics, rejoined the race and finished eighth.

FINISH	START	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	3	Lawson Aschenbach	Porsche 911 GT3	33	-
2	4	Johny O'Connell	Cadillac CTS-V	33	-
3	7	Ricardo Imery	Porsche 911 GT3	33	-
4	1	Lou Gigliotti	Chevrolet Corvette C6	33	-
5	10	Bob Woodhouse	Dodge Viper	33	-
6	8	James Sofronas	Porsche 911 GT3	33	-
7	12	Rob Foster	Dodge Viper	33	-
8	6	Andy Pilgrim	Cadillac CTS-V	33	-
9	16	Tony Gaples	Chevrolet Corvette C6	33	-
10	11	Lenny Diller	Dodge Viper	33	-
11	18	Greg Weirick	Chevrolet Corvette C6	33	-
12	13	Sonny Whelen	Chevrolet Corvette C6	32	-
13	15	Bob Miller	Porsche 911 Cup	32	-
14	20	Claudio Burtin	Chevrolet Corvette C6	32	-
15	17	Skip Sauls	Dodge Viper	32	-
16	22	Ed Braswell	Chevrolet Corvette C5	31	-
17	26	Mike McCann	Dodge Viper	30	-
18	6	Doug Peterson	Chevrolet Corvette C6	17	Mechanical
19	27	Derek Burseth	Dodge Viper	14	Mechanical
20	21	Adel Elsayed	Dodge Viper	13	Mechanical
21	5	Leighton Reese	Chevrolet Corvette C6	13	Mechanical
22	19	Tom Papadopoulos	Aston Martin DB9	12	Mechanical
23	2	Tommy Archer	Dodge Viper	7	Mechanical
24	25	John Bourassa	Porsche 911 Turbo	6	Mechanical
25	24	Igor Sushko	Nissan Skyline GT-r	4	Mechanical
26	14	Johnny Mowlen	Aston Martin DB9	0	Did Not Start
27	24	Mark LoPilato	Porsche 911 Turbo	0	Did Not Start

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