RealTime Racing, the most successful team in the history of SCCA Pro Racing’s SPEED World Challenge Touring Car series, will put five Acuras on the track at each of the 2005 season’s 11 races. “Our goal this year is to win an unprecedented fifth Manufacturers’ Championship for Acura, and a ninth Drivers’ Championship for RealTime Racing’s drivers,” said team manager Nathan Bonneau.

To achieve the dual goals, RealTime is fielding three Acura TSX cars and a pair of RSXs, all equipped with Acura’s A-SPEC performance and handling package. Two of the TSX performance sedans will be driven by SPEED World Challenge veterans Peter Cunningham and Pierre Kleinubing, who rank first and second in Series Career Wins and Fastest Qualifier categories, having earned a collective 49 victories and 54 pole positions. They will be joined in a third TSX by 19-year-old Denver University Freshman Brandon Davis, who made three starts for RTR last year and will be gunning for the 2005 top rookie prize. Returning RTR team members Eric Curran (1999 SCCA American Sedan National Champion) and Nick Esayian (2004 SPEED Touring Car fourth highest rookie) will race the nimble Acura RSX entries.

“We’ve already had three test days since the end of the 2004 season, and there will be two more before we get to Sebring in March,” Bonneau noted. “This is the strongest lineup RealTime Racing has ever had, and that excites us.” “Pierre is a known quantity in World Challenge racing,” team principal Cunningham added. “It would be difficult to remember a race where he wasn’t a major factor. “Eric made a great teammate in 2003, and last year both Nick and Brandon showed a lot of potential,” he added. “This isn’t the first time RealTime has run five Acura Touring Cars – we did that in 2000 and 2001 – but this is the deepest talent pool we have ever had.”

The RealTime Acuras have been noted for their eye-catching neon orange & white paint schemes since 1997, but even that has been upgraded for 2005. “We’ll still use the same color combination,” Cunningham said, “but otherwise it’s a brand new look, yet unmistakably a RealTime Acura.”

The 11-race schedule for the Touring Car Championship begins March
16-18 at Sebring, Fla., but this year, for the first time since 2003, includes street races. “The race in St. Petersburg, Fla., with the Indy Racing League will be a homecoming of sorts for Pierre,” Cunningham said. “The 1997 season opener there was his debut with us, and led to his winning not only the Rookie of the Year award but the Drivers’ Championship as well.”

The second street race will be in Denver, Colo., where the Touring Cars are joined by the ChampCar series.

The RealTime Racing Acuras are sponsored by the Acura Division of American Honda, A-SPEC, Red Line Oil, Eibach Springs, BOSCH, Sparco, Hawk Performance, Brembo, SPORTCOMPACTCAR, Memphis Car Audio, Valley Graphix, PACT and YES.

Last edited by Tuan on February 19, 2005 14:12