LAMB KICKS OFF SEASON WITH TWO PODIUMS AT ST. PETE’S

March 31, 2012 - Atlanta, GA - The World Challenge Touring Car Championship got off to a wild start during Rounds 1 & 2 at the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg in Florida on March 24-25, 2012. Compass360 Racing driver Todd Lamb scored second place finishes in both races, putting the team's Honda Civic second in the driver, team, and manufacturer point standings.

Lamb made his World Challenge debut topping the practice charts on Friday in the #71 National Kart News/SafeRacer Honda Civic, with Compass360 teammates Ryan Winchester, Robb Holland, and Shea Holbrook also turning fast laps to kick off the weekend.

C360R/TrueCar driver Shea Holbrook: "It's great to finally have teammates; when I heard Todd Lamb would be one of them I was thrilled. He's an experienced, knowledgeable, and talented driver with a great personality. It feels great knowing you have a teammate that you can trust and learn from."

It was a weekend of new experiences for the veteran racer. In addition to a debut in the series, it was Lamb's first race on the streets of St. Petersburg, his first in the C360R Honda, and his first race with the team. Lamb had previously done a few standing starts in shifter kart races along with numerous street course races, but it was a first in a FWD car: "there were a lot of new things to take in, and with no margin for error at St. Pete with the concrete walls we decided to be cautious and maximize points for a championship. I have to thank Lawson Aschenbach (who drove to the 2011 TC championship with C360R) and Robb Holland for giving me some valuable pointers during the track walk - they have a lot of experience at St. Pete."

Starting fourth in Round One, Lamb got a great start and slotted into second heading into the first corner, neatly avoiding several early incidents and was able to keep the leader in sight but was unable to put together a pass for the lead at the end of the race. In Round Two, Lamb started from fourth and again got a great start, but this time traffic didn't work in his favor and he was separated from the leader by GTS class cars for the duration of the race.

Todd Lamb: "I was surprised the slower GTS cars weren't willing to let the TC leaders race for the win. But that's all part of multi-class racing and we won't have that situation for the next event. I have to thank Karl (Thomson, Team Principal), Ray (Lee, Technical Director), Enrico (Diano, Crew Chief) and the rest of the Compass360 crew for putting together a great program in World Challenge. We are anticipating that the series will be making some competition adjustments to the turbo cars that will equalize the field, so we should be in contention for wins the rest of the season."

In-car video highlights are available on YouTube.

The St. Pete races will be broadcast on NBC Sports television on April 8 at 4:30pm. Live streaming is available for all upcoming events at www.world-challengetv.com. The next event is at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah on April 27-29.

Photo credits: Michael Wong Photography.