Every year SCCA Speed World Challengekicks off their season at Sebring International Raceway. Forty five cars separated in two classes, practices on Wednesday, qualifies on Thursday, and races on Friday… before the weekend even begins. Yet, diehard fans skip works and cut schools, only to camp on the field of this historical air strip to watch these incredible machines battle with each other. The cars racing on track are the soup up version of the cars they drive here or parked in their garage. This is how their 2008 opener unfolded last Friday, one in the shine and one in the rain.

Touring Cars in the sun:

Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., led the entire way to capture his 27th-career SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car win, his third at Sebring International Raceway, to start the 2008 season at the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Presented by Fresh From Florida weekend. Teammates Kuno Wittmer, of Montreal, Quebec, and Peter Cunningham, of Milwaukee, Wis., completed the podium.

Starting from his record 31st pole, Kleinubing led the field away from the standing start under sunny skies in his No. 43 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX. While his gap to second place never eclipsed two seconds, Kleinubing was never seriously challenged for the lead in the 18-lap, 66.6-mile race that went caution free. He averaged 92.963 mph in beating Wittmer to the checkered flag by 0.645-second.

“It feels awesome,” Kleinubing said. “I’m so glad to be here with a RealTime sweep.

“I think I had the same pace as these guys [Cunningham and Wittmer], but they were fighting a little bit. They actually caught up to me for a little bit, but then I think Kuno made a mistake in Turn 17 and then on the same lap into Turn One, so I opened up that gap again and maintained it. The new tires [Toyo R888] stayed consistent throughout the race. I was able to run the last lap and the first lap at the same pace.”

After recording his the first winless season of his career in 2007, Kleinubing is high hopes for the new season.

“I’m very optimistic. This team is really tight. We know that until we get to Road Atlanta, nothing’s been decided and we’ll just keep doing our jobs, one race at a time.”

Wittmer started second in his No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX and withstood attempts by teammate Peter Cunningham’s No. 42 Acura to hold onto second—equaling his career-best finish.

“The start was great,” Wittmer said. “I was concerned about the BMW in fourth place [Nick Esayian]. The first thing I did on the start was look in the mirror and he didn’t get a very good start, so that cleared my mind right away.

“Pierre set a really good pace and I tried following him. Peter was definitely putting the pressure on me, but he’s my teammate, so I knew he wouldn’t do anything stupid. After halfway, he did initiate a really good pass on me. I saw he had a better line out of 16 and he went to the inside and I went to the outside and I was able to stick it, but he definitely kept the pressure on. The last lap was a concern, but when I saw him drop two wheels I was able to breathe.

Cunningham completed the second-straight RealTime Racing podium sweep (dating back to the 2007 finale), but had to fend off challenges from Charles Espenlaub’s No. 73 Mazdaspeed/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6, while putting the pressure on teammate Wittmer for the runner-up spot.

“I’d been trying to really ramp it up there in the last couple of laps,” Cunningham said. “I’d had better opportunities and actually passed him [Wittmer] under braking into Turn 17, but then he had a better run coming out. On the last lap, I thought I’d get a good run coming out of 16 like I had before, but I got two wheels off and that didn’t give me the run I was looking for, so I wasn’t going to just stick it in and take both of us out. I just wanted him to know I was there.”

Espenlaub, of Lutz, Fla., was the highest finishing Mazda in fourth after starting sixth. Defending Series Champion Jeff Altenburg completed the top five after starting eighth in his No. 1 Mazdaspeed/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6.

Seth Thomas started from the back of the pack after his No. 38 BimmerWorld BMW 325i failed post-qualifying inspection, but battled back to a sixth-place finish despite a couple of trips off course. He also set the race’s fast lap with a 2:22.018 (93.791 mph). Jason Martinelli (BMW 325Ci), Dino Crescentini (Acura TSX), rookie Jason Saini (MAZDA6) and James Clay (BMW 325i) completed the top 10.

Clay, who started 15th, captured two awards for his run—the Racing Electronics Holeshot Award for advancing six positions on the opening lap in his No. 36 BimmerWorld BMW 325i and the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for advancing five positions throughout the race.

GT Class in the rain:

Former Floridian Randy Pobst’s local weather pattern knowledge helped make the pivotal decision to pit early for rain tires, as he came back through the field to win the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship season opener, part of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Presented by Fresh From Florida at Sebring International Raceway. Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton, Fla., and Michael Galati, of Olmsted, Ohio, completed the top three.

Dark clouds rolled in as the cars prepared to roll off the grid and by the formation lap preceding the standing start, heavy drizzle began to fall around the 3.7-mile circuit. After seeing cars having difficulty negotiating the track, SCCA Pro Racing officials elected to run an additional pace lap and begin the race with a rolling, single-file start. Pobst immediately moved his No. 1 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 past polesitter Brandon Davis’ No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra as the cars kicked up spray and searched for grip on the opening lap.

“On the start, when I got by Brandon, he had big wheel-spin on the start-finish line paint striped,” Pobst said. “He got sideways and I lifted and then got back in again it once I got by him.”

Defending race winner Eric Curran, of E. Hampton, Mass., brought out the first of three lengthy full-course cautions when he went straight off at Turn One, making heavy impact with the tire wall in the No. 30 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette. Pobst took advantage of the caution to pit from the lead. Pilgrim and Davis followed in the ensuing laps, handing the lead to Galati’s No. 23 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3.

“We started with the rain early on and it was quite livable, but then somebody crashed which didn’t surprise me one bit,” Pobst continued. “So then, we’re riding along under yellow, watching the skies, the windshield, and the road. I looked at the weather and decided to go with the wet tires. I felt that the rain tires, were a kind of intermediate tires, that would be okay in the dry too. So we changed the tires and went to the back, and to our great fortune it started raining harder and harder. As I watched that water build up I knew that everybody on dries was in trouble. When we changed, it still wasn’t a sure thing. We took a gamble. It could have quit raining right there, but it didn’t.”

On the ensuing restart, Tomy Drissi spun into the Turn One inside wall in his No. 15 Horton Hears a Who Chevrolet Corvette, and left considerable debris around the course necessitating the second full-course yellow. By the time the lap nine restart transpired, Pobst was up to fourth behind Jason Daskalos’ No. 05 Daskalos Development & Investments Dodge Viper, the No. 11 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra of Mike Davis and Tommy Archer’s No. 13 Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper. When the cars came by on lap 10 to receive the third full course yellow, Pobst was back in front.

The field restarted on lap 11 and Pobst sped away from the field to win the time-shortened 12-lap, 44.4-mile race by 4.014 seconds, averaging just 51.594 mph. The race came down to strategy, with the cars taking rain tires first finishing up front and the cars choosing to stay on dries falling behind at the end or off the course.

“I could drive right by anybody on dries,” Pobst said. “On the front straight I was extremely careful. Full throttle? Forget about it. But coming out of Turn Three on the way to the Hairpin, I knew the traction was good on the outside. I must have passed 10 cars on dries.

“The Porsche also has a rear-engine and the weight of the wheels helps put power down and makes it want to understeer under power. That made the Porsche the choice in these conditions and I went from last to fifth on that lap and kept hanging on from there.”

Driving the No. 8 Remington Shaving Cadillac CTS-V, Pilgrim came home second, but was not happy with the conditions.

“It was raining and the guys on the team were saying ‘it’s going to be ten minutes, just a ten minute shower, it’s going to dry out,’ but then I said ‘I’m coming in now. It doesn’t matter if it stops raining now, it’s still going to be disgusting the rest of the race.’ So I made the call to come in at that point and it was a good call,” Pilgrim said.

“I was tenth [on the last restart] and in one lap I got to third. I did not pass seven people, they just spun off and hit each other in front of me. I think I passed three, but four spun out.

“It was no fun at all, absolutely treacherous. You would get to a point where you aquaplaned, then you tell yourself ‘I think if I catch enough pavement before the corner, I’m going to be able to slow down,’ and that’s what I did.

“It has to be very difficult for the officials and we appreciate that,” Pilgrim added. “I’m happy I’m here with a top three finish for Team Remington Cadillac. I’m just going to go to Long Beach and hope it doesn’t rain.”

Galati turned the race’s fastest lap at a tentative 3:04.924 (72.029 mph)—nearly one minute slower than the cars practiced—and was happy to make it to the finish.

“I called in on the radio that I wanted to pit and my team said ‘no they’re going to throw a red flag again like Road Atlanta,’ so I stayed out,” Galati said. “It was treacherous out there. I don’t want to sound like a cry baby, but it was really tricky conditions. You couldn’t see anything the spray was so bad. I’m happy that we’re here with car in one piece.”

Brandon Davis recovered from a late-race brush with the wall on a restart to record a fourth-place finish in his Mustang, followed by Jeff Courtney’s No. 99 Kenda/MPI Coin TJM Wealth Management Dodge Viper.

Tony Gaples, of Libertyville, Ill., finished sixth in his No. 34 Kleinschmidt Inc/Blackdog Racing Chevrolet Corvette, earning the Sunoco Hard Charger award after starting 25th.

Mike Davis, Daskalos, James Sofronas (Porsche 911 GT3) and Paul Brown (Porsche 911 GT3) completed the top 10.

Gunter Schaldach, of Aspen, Colo., earned the Racing Electronics Holeshot Award for advancing nine positions on lap one in his No. 9 Valaya Racing Dodge Viper. Schaldach was in line for a good finish, but crashed in Turn One on lap 11.

None of the drivers involved in incidents were injured.