out why they weren’t working quite as well as we’d like in Virginia. Man, the car from the very first test session just put a smile on my face and we didn’t look back from there. “

Jason, who earned his Tri-Point ride by winning the 2007 MX-5 Cup Championship, started the first two races of his Touring Car career from the back of the grid due to qualifying mishaps. When the start lights went out in Utah, his perspective from the front row was a bit different.

“That was pretty nerve wracking with seventeen hungry touring cars right behind you!” Jason said, “I’m looking at the lights and my pulse was probably as high as it’s ever been in my entire life. I got too much wheelspin, but I wasn’t about to lift and bog, so I just stayed in it. Pierre [Kleinubing] got a little run on me because he got a better launch, but I was able to hold him off. I really felt from our practice that the car would be stronger at the beginning of the race, though Pierre would get stronger as the race went on. I really concentrated on building a gap during those first couple of laps. The race was basically 50 minutes of qualifying.”

It was an emotional weekend for Jason as it has been a long-time goal of his to win a World Challenge race, and to do so in the third race of his debut season is a dream come true. “I can’t thank the Tri-Point team, Mazda, and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder program enough. It’s just awesome to be here, and with the bad luck in the first two races I was beginning to scratch my head a little bit. It just feels great to get these results.”

Teammates Charles Espenlaub and Jim Daniels had their hands full trying to dispense with the Realtime Acuras of Wittmer and Cunningham so they could chase down the advancing Kleinubing. Charles quickly fell into fourth place behind Wittmer at the start and was tasked with simultaneously trying to attack when possible and defend against the mounting pressure being applied by Cunningham from behind.

Charles added, “It was a great battle, it was fun running with Kuno and Peter as always; I had a little bit more on Kuno, but I just couldn’t pass him – this is a hard track to pass at. I was biding my time, and I was actually going to try to do it somewhere else, but he made a pretty good mistake down in turn 4, so I had to take advantage of it – it just didn’t quite work out and I came out a position behind!”

Daniels, a former teammate of Saini’s and 2006 MX-5 Cup Champion, was relishing the opportunity to drive a MAZDA6 Touring Car. “I was told to not hit anything and do the best I can do, and that was the best I could do without hitting anything!” Daniels joked, “The car was fast though; when we had an open track, I could put the car anywhere I wanted. We were matching our qualifying times with the better track conditions in the morning, so it was good.”

“At the start, the guys went four-wide down into turn five and while we were gathering it up heading into six, Thomas in the BMW got by me. After I got back by him, it took about a lap and a half to catch Peter and Charles. I had Peter by just a tad here and there, but he was just really smooth and consistent, and Chares would only come back to me when he would jump a curb and all four tires would be off the ground“ added Daniels.

As the race ended, Saini’s win would catapult him into sixth position in the overall driver’s points. Espenlaub remains in fourth behind a trio of Acura drivers. In the Manufacturer’s Championship, Mazda remains in second place by 9 points.

Info

Sunday’s SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car race from Utah airs Wednesday, May 28th at 12:00pm Eastern on SPEED. The series now heads to Lime Rock, Connecticut for the fourth and fifth rounds of the Touring Car series, May 24-26.

Sponsors

The Tri-Point team is proudly supported by the following sponsors whose involvement is critical to the team’s 2008 efforts and continued success.