TOOELE, Utah — Series rookie Jason Saini led every lap en route to his maiden SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship win Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park. Pierre Kleinubing and Kuno Wittmer completed the top three.
Starting from his first-career pole position in the No. 74 MazdaSpeed/Stoptech/RacingMazda6, Saini made a clean getaway on the standing start and immediately pulled out a gap on Kleinubing. The gap between the two remained fairly consistent between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds throughout the course of the 20-lap, 60.96-mile race.
Saini beat Kleinubing to the checkered flag by 1.402-seconds, averaging 86.366 mph.
“It wasn’t easy,” Saini said. “It was 50 minutes straight qualifying, every lap. There was no tire management, there was no waiting on it. I just went. I tried to pull a gap early. I knew my car was good early, but based on the whole weekend, I felt like Pierre would be stronger at the end. I knew my only shot was to get out and get a bit of a buffer when my car was good.”
Saini became the first rookie winner in SCCA Speed Touring Car competition since John Angelone won the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2005.
The finish:
Jason Saini, Pierre Kleinubing, Kuno Wittmer, Peter Cunningham, Charles Espenlaub, Jim Daniels, Seth Thomas, Chip Herr, Dino Crescentini, Patrick Lindsey, Nick Esayian, Charlie Putman, Jason Martinelli, Byron Smith, Branden Peterson, James Clay, Michael Galati.