Over the past two races, the hoopla of Toyota Atlantic Championships has surrounded two rookies – Charles Zwolsman and Katherine Legge.
However, after Friday and Saturday’s qualifiers at the Grand Prix of Denver, another rookie is stepping into the limelight. Seventeen-year-old Alan Sciuto of PR1 Motorsports came out of nowhere and was the polesitter both days with times of 1:08.692 and 108:740.
“I am a little surprised to be that fast right away,” Sciuto said. “I think we just worked really hard and I have a great team.”
This was Sciuto’s second Toyota Atlantic race; he placed fourth in San Jose two weeks ago. The California native became the youngest driver in Toyota Atlantic Championships’ 32-year history to win a pole.
Despite posting the top qualifying time Friday, the 2004 National Karting Champion noticed Saturday times were improving and his time might not hold up. Sciuto elected to take to the track Saturday. On his 10th lap he claimed the best lap time.
During today’s race, Sciuto will need to pull every bit of experience with Zwolsman, who starts in position three, Tonis Kasemets (fourth), who is second to Zwolsman in points, and Legge (fifth) looking to pass the youngster.
“I am definitely going to be a little nervous,” Sciuto said. “Like everybody said, it is crucial to make it through the first corner, and then we’ll start racing.”
Trans-Am
Rocketsports’ rookie Klaus Graf took his second win of the Trans-Am Series with a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes, 32.247 seconds in the 61-lap race. Driving a Jaguar XKR, Graf is one point behind series point leader Randy Ruhlman, who finished sixth, with two races remaining on the 10-race schedule.
“Today was just perfect. I didn’t make one mistake,” Graf said. “If this is not good racing, I don’t know what good racing is. We’ll see what happens in the last two races, (Ruhlman and I) will have a great battle and great run for the championship.”
At times, Graf led the second-place driver by more than nine seconds. No driver was within five seconds of the 15-year racing veteran.
For more than 30 laps, fellow Rocketsports drivers Tomy Drissi and Paul Gentilozzi battled for the No. 2 spot. They flip-flopped and Gentilozzi seemed to be a clear second-place finisher until he drifted off corner four with fewer than 10 laps to go. Gentilozzi fell to fourth place and Drissi held onto second place. Team Cytosports’ Greg Pickett finished third.
In seven races there have been five winners.
Schedule announced
The Grand Prix will remain a mid-August event for 2006. Champ Car announced a 15-race schedule for next season and Denver’s three-day event will be Aug. 11-13.
The schedule features each of this season’s 14 venues plus a street race in Houston. There are seven street races, five on road courses and two on ovals.
Series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven said more races could be added to fill gaps in late April and early September, and he would like to end the season with a U.S. race, which would follow the Nov. 5 event in Mexico City.
Kalkhoven, who owns the series along with fellow car owners Gerald Forsythe and Gentilozzi, said the group wants to limit the season to 18 races.
A dirt track special
Actor Paul Newman, co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing, rented Rocky Mountain National Speedway in Commerce City on Thursday night. He also borrowed or rented enough sprint cars and midgets to treat his two drivers, Sebastien Bourdais and Oriol Seriva, plus 2003 series champion Paul Tracy of Forsythe Championship Racing, to a night of dirt racing.
“We did that the first time in Long Beach this year, and we had a blast,” Bourdais said of renting a local dirt track before Champ Car events. “We just decided to do it again. Oriol was there and Paul and P.T. It was just a great time.”
Bourdais said Newman, who still races professionally at age 80, was tough to beat.
“You have to watch it to believe it,” Bourdais said. “I think I did succeed to pass him after 15 laps, but it’s not like I drove by and said, ‘Hi.’ No, he’s lost a bit of speed I think on the asphalt … but on the dirt, he’s still feeling really good. He likes to slide, that’s for sure.
Footnotes
Today’s Champ Car winner will receive at least 31 points, and the runner-up will get at least 27. Third place nets 25 points. A bonus point also will be awarded for every driver who leads a lap, the driver who posts the fastest lap, and the driver who improves the most positions from his starting position. The top qualifier in Friday and Saturday’s sessions also obtained a bonus point. … Alex Tagliani of Canada will make his 100th career Champ Car start today.
Staff writer Mike Chambers contributed to this report.
