ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin, June 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Acura’s Ryan Eversley swept into the lead in the run to the first turn, and never looked back, heading a 1-2 finish for Acura Motorsports and RealTime Racing in Saturday’s Pirelli World Challenge race at Road America. Teammate Peter Cunningham completed the sweep, bringing his Acura TLX GT home second in the first of two races this weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Starting on the outside of front row, second, Eversley outran the Bentley of pole qualifier Adderly Fong on the long Road America front straight, taking his Acura TLX GT into a lead he would hold throughout the 50-minute contest. Eversley completed a dominating performance by setting fastest race lap, gaining the pole position for Sunday’s follow-up race.
“I had a good start, but so did Adderly,” Eversley said. “I have to thank the Acura V6 turbo horsepower for getting us into the lead. Then, as we went into Turn Five, I saw him lock up the brakes and slide down the escape road. After that, I concentrated on keeping ‘Mr. Road America’ [teammate Cunningham] behind me, and completing a great day for RealTime Racing and Acura.”
Cunningham, starting third, fought with Fong through the downhill straight into Turn Five, taking second place when Fong locked his brakes and briefly ran wide at the corner exit. Once in second, Cunningham held off Fong, the Porsche of Patrick Long, and the rest of the GT field to pull clear by some three seconds and complete the 1-2 finish for Acura at the “home track” for the RealTime Racing team, which is based in nearby Saukville, Wisconsin.
“It’s a dream come true to finish one-two in front of all our fans and supporters here at Road America,” Cunningham said. “It definitely hasn’t been an easy path. There were so many hours of work and development from everyone at Honda Performance Development and RealTime, and this is an awesome result. The atmosphere here has been incredible all weekend. It couldn’t have happened at a better place.”
Developed from the production Acura TLX by HPD and RealTime Racing, the Acura TLX GT features HPD chassis and aerodynamic performance parts approved for Pirelli World Challenge competition. It is powered by a direct-injected, twin-turbocharged V6 engine, developed by HPD from the production Acura TLX.
Video recaps from this weekend’s Acura Pirelli World Challenge and Honda Verizon IndyCar Series racing activities at Road America are being posted on the “Honda Racing/HPD” YouTube channel. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the video packages can be found in the 2016 HPD Trackside Video Playlist at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.
