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MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Challenge Round 2 – Auto Club Speedway
By Justin Banner
If the MPTCC has shown one thing, it's that sometimes lax rules can make for some very fast and competitive cars. However, it can also make it a challenge between unmatched classes, too. Because the MPTCC is sanctioned by NASA, they run in groups with sometimes much slower cars. At Buttonwillow, these cars were the class of the field and the fastest class in NASAs' run group. This led to a very hairy start when the Spec Miata class did not start as soon as they needed. Fortunately, Auto Club Speedway is a large enough track that the separation between classes was large and we did not have a repeat of Buttonwillow.
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| One thing would be obvious through the whole weekend, Edik Stepanyan would be the fastest guy in Group C, which included Spec Z and Honda Challenge, among others. In both Race 1 and Race 2, “Edo” would be top qualifier in MPTCC and Overall. This is impressive considering how simple this car really is. More on that in a Feature Car article! |
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| Quickly shoving its' weight around, Michele Abbate and the Dynamic Autosport/Gruppe-S Scion tC are still the Heavy Weights in Tuner Under. That didn't stop her from qualifying 4th in Race 1 and 2nd in Race 2. |
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| Our own Steve Rockwood in the MotoIQ Project Infiniti G20 came out this weekend to put the car to the test. However, it would be his patience that would be tested during qualifying. When coming up to a slower Honda Challenge car, the CRX came out caused minor contact with Rockwood. It would be all cosmetic and Project G20 would race on. |
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| Justin Taylor would bring out his Honda S2000 for the MPTCC. His S2000 would qualify 3rd in Race 1. Gremlins would stop him from qualifying on Race 2, though he did make the race. |
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| As promised by Dave Lemon himself, Mazdatrix brought out the old Time Attack car for Wheel to Wheel competition in the Tuner Over class. The Mazda RX8 would qualify second overall and took home the class win. Be sure to check out our feature of the Mazdatrix Mazda RX8! |
