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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">SCCA TOURING</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">19/03/2004</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Auberlen Captures Speed Touring Car Pole </FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">BMW Quickest In Sebring</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/BMW1sebq04.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"><B>Auberlen Captures Speed Touring Car Pole In Record Time At Sebring</B><BR> <BR> Bill Auberlen took the first step in defending his SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship today by winning the Air Force Reserve Pole Position Award for Friday’s race at Sebring International Raceway, part of the 52nd Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. Bob Stretch will start on the outside of row one, followed by Brazilian Pierre Kleinubing.<BR> <BR> On a picture perfect day in Central Florida, defending race winner Auberlen broke his own qualifying record by nearly three and a half seconds when he turned a lap of 2:23.199 (93.017 mph) in his No. 1 Turner Motorsport/H&R Springs BMW 325i. While Auberlen admits his team made very few changes to the car in the off-season, his record qualifying run was certainly helped by the new Toyo Proxes RA-1 DOT-approved tyres the series will compete on this season. <BR> <BR> “You know what’s good, they didn’t change anything,” Auberlen said. “They [Turner Motorsport] said, ‘let’s bring back the exact same car.’ So, they dusted it off and off we went racing. They put new tyres on it. The good thing was, I ran those tyres last year in GT. I knew a lot of the suspension settings and I knew how it would respond.”<BR> <BR> The pole was the ninth of Auberlen’s World Challenge career.<BR> <BR> Stretch, who was quickest in Wednesday’s combined practice session and who was quickest for most of the qualifying session, will start from the row one thanks to a qualifying time of 2:23.323 (92.937 mph). Stretch will be gunning for his first SPEED Touring Car win when he takes to the track in his No. 98 Wheels America BMW 325Ci. It is the first time in 15 career SPEED Touring Car starts that Stretch will start from the front row.<BR> <BR> Three-time series Champion Pierre Kleinubing will start third in his brand new No. 42 A-SPEC/RealTime Racing Acura TSX as the result of lap time of 2:23.508 (92.817 mph). This is the fourth year the SPEED World Challenge has competed at Sebring and Kleinubing is a two-time race winner.<BR> <BR> Nic Jonsson recorded the fourth quickest time of the day and Techmark Autosport teammate James Sofronas completed the top five.<BR> <BR> Fifteen drivers qualified faster than the old qualifying record (2:26.701, 90.796 mph) set by Auberlen last year. The change is largely attributed to the new tyres.<BR> <BR> Rookie Seth Thomas, who turned a lap fast enough for 23rd, was found to have a non-compliant wing location and was moved to the rear of the grid.<BR> <BR> <BR> 1, (1), Bill Auberlen BMW 325i, 2:23.199, 93.017.<BR> <BR> 2, (98), Bob Stretch BMW 325Ci, 2:23.323, 92.937.<BR> <BR> 3, (42), Pierre Kleinubing Acura TSX, 2:23.508, 92.817.<BR> <BR> 4, (27), Nic Jonsson, BMW 325Ci, 2:23.558, 92.784.<BR> <BR> 5, (29), James Sofronas, BMW 325Ci, 2:23.564, 92.781.<BR> <BR> 6, (72), Jeff Altenburg, Mazda Protégé ES, 2:23.776, 92.644.<BR> <BR> 7, (4), Peter Cunningham, Sentra SE-R, 2:24.034, 92.478.<BR> <BR> 8, (2), Justin Marks, BMW 325i, 2:24.089, 92.442.<BR> <BR> 9, (71), Shauna Glorioso Marinus, Mazda Protégé ES, 2:24.510, 92.173.<BR> <BR> 10, (44), Victor Gonzalez(R), Acura RSX, 2:25.383, 91.620.<BR> <BR> 11, (43), Matt Plumb, Acura RSX, 2:25.500, 91.546.<BR> <BR> 12, (24), Jim Osborn, BMW 325Ci, 2:25.834, 91.336.<BR> <BR> 13, (78), Jon Prall, BMW 328i, 2:26.160, 91.133.<BR> <BR> 14, (3), Dino Crescentini(R), BMW 325i, 2:26.220, 91.095.<BR> <BR> 15, (02), Scott Poirier(R), Mercedes C230, 2:26.543, 90.894.<BR> <BR> 16, (9), Chip Herr(R), Mazda Protégé ES, 2:26.760, 90.760.<BR> <BR> 17, (96), Scott Fredricksen(R), Mazda Protégé ES, 2:27.051, 90.580.<BR> <BR> 18, (99), Kevin McKee, BMW 325Ci, 2:27.254, 90.456.<BR> <BR> 19, (00), Andrew Monterrubio, Acura Integra R, 2:27.798, 90.123.<BR> <BR> 20, (03), Peter Lockhart, Mercedes C230, 2:27.970, 90.018.<BR> <BR> 21, (25), Eric Curran, BMW 325Ci, 2:28.040, 89.975.<BR> <BR> 22, (10), Ryan Pilla(R), Mazda Protégé ES, 2:28.156, 89.905.<BR> <BR> 23, (36), James Clay, BMW 325i, 2:29.002, 89.394.<BR> <BR> 24, (13), Scott Bradley, Mazda Protégé ES, 2:29.145, 89.309.<BR> <BR> 25, (58), Tom Stewart, Honda Civic Si, 2:29.254, 89.243.<BR> <BR> 26, (16), Phil Parlato, BMW 325i, 2:29.397, 89.158.<BR> <BR> 27, (28), Scott Galaba(R), BMW 325Ci, 2:30.724, 88.373.<BR> <BR> 28, (23), Ken Payson, Mazda Protégé ES, 2:32.194, 87.519.<BR> <BR> 29, (46), Nick Esayian(R), Acura Integra R, 2:32.445, 87.375.<BR> <BR> 30, (26), Michael Flynn, Subaru Impreza, 2:32.920, 87.104.<BR> <BR> 31, (7), Mark German, Mazda 626, 2:33.059, 87.025.<BR> <BR> 32, (97), Chris Tindol(R), Mazda Protégé ES, 2:33.499, 86.775.<BR> <BR> 33, (38), Seth Thomas(R), BMW 325i, no time.<BR> <BR> 34, (31), Mark Hein, Honda Civic SiR, no time.<BR> <BR> 35, (37), Matt Richmond, BMW 325i, no time.<BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>