Race Weekend Central

Karl Wittmer Tops Friday TC Action at Lime Rock

Classic BMW/Fast Track Racing’s Karl Wittmer was the man to beat, leading opening practice and qualifying for Saturday’s TC races at Lime Rock Park on Friday (May 25).

Qualifying

In qualifying, BERG Racing’s John Weisberg originally won the pole in his Mazda MX-5 TC Spec.  However, Weisberg was DQ’d in post-qualifying inspection for a technical infraction.  As a result, Wittmer ascended to the pole with a lap of 57.164 seconds (92.828 mph).

Wittmer’s teammate Matt Travis qualified second, just four-hundredths of a second back.  Unfortunately, Travis went wide in the Climbing Turn while trying to improve his time and clipped the tire barrier with a couple of minutes remaining.  Travis’ stricken BMW topped on the grass just before the West Turn and stayed there under a local yellow for the remainder of the session.

AutoTechnic Racing’s Robert Nimkoff will start third, followed by the Nissan of Rearden Racing’s Vesko Kozarov.  The Hyundai Genesis Coupe of Jeff Ricca will start fifth.

For Wittmer, he’s likely looking for some redemption at Lime Rock.  Last year, Race No. 1. ended in a somewhat unusual place for the Canadian racer.

PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE GRAND PRIX OF LIME ROCK POWERED BY M TC QUALIFYING RESULTS

Practice No. 1

In the morning practice session, Wittmer was once again fastest with a lap of 57.664 seconds (92.023 mph).  Wittmer’s time, which was set early in the session, was nearly one-third of a second quicker than Nimkoff.

Johan Schwartz in the Rooster Hall Racing BMW was third quickest, just seven-thousandths of a second slower than Nimkoff.  Travis and Weisberg rounded out the top five.

PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE GRAND PRIX OF LIME ROCK POWERED BY M TC PRACTICE NO. 1 RESULTS

Practice No. 2

Wittmer actually sat out the second practice session Friday afternoon.  That allowed Nimkoff to top the charts with a lap of 57.623 seconds (92.088 seconds).  The time was nearly three-tenths of a second faster than Travis.  Kozarov was third fastest, followed by Weisberg and Ricca.

The session ended a couple of minutes early after Steve Bottom crashed his Nissan 370Z in the Diving Turn.  When asked about the incident, Bottom was honest.

“I tried to go through the [Diving Turn] flat, and ran out of talent,” Bottom told Frontstretch after the crash.  “I just went wide, got out in the marbles and off I went.”

Bottom’s Nissan had damage to the left front corner.  The damage really wasn’t all that bad, but Bottom doesn’t have a lot of spare parts.  He skipped qualifying on Friday, but will race Saturday afternoon.

PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE GRAND PRIX OF LIME ROCK POWERED BY M TC PRACTICE NO. 2 RESULTS

TC Race No. 1 is scheduled to go green at 12:45 p.m. EDT.  The race will be streamed live on World-Challenge.com.

About the author

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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