When Don Knowles drove his Pontiac Solstice to its first-ever Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) National Championship Runoffs win at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas, he kicked off a three title weekend for GM vehicles and also extended GM's consecutive championship win streak to 51 years.
Prepared by Phoenix Performance and Joe Aquilante, Knowles' Solstice was one of five racing in the 28-car Showroom Stock B (SSB) class, and the win earned the veteran road racer his third SCCA National Championship. He averaged 72.884 mph during the 45-mile race, while teammate and Northeast Division SSB champion Andrew Aquilante set the fastest lap on the 2.5-mile track at 2:01:700 with his Solstice.
"This win puts the finishing touch on an extremely strong rookie year for the Solstice in SCCA," said GM Performance Division executive John Heinricy. "We knew the Solstice would be very competitive, but winning a National and Northeast Division Championship in Club Racing and two more National Championships in Solo autocross competition really validates the performance of this top selling vehicle."
All SCCA Club Racing Solstices and most Solo entries are equipped with the Z0K Club Sport regular production order option package, which is designed for the weekend racer and currently available to order through any Pontiac dealership.
Developed by GM Performance Division, the Club Sport package features the standard five-speed manual transmission along with antilock brakes (ABS), a limited-slip differential and FE3 suspension. The FE3 suspension is standard on the 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP.
Phoenix Performance was instrumental in introducing the Pontiac Solstice into SCCA racing for 2006 in cooperation with GM Performance Division. In addition to the Solstices driven by Knowles and Andrew, Phoenix also supported Runoff entries driven by Stan Czacki and Beth Aquilante. A fifth Solstice was raced by Alan Yankielun.
PHOTO CAPTION: Solstice Victory Lap - - - - Don Knowles and his Solstice on the winning lap.
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