Redline Time Attack hosted the final round of the 2009 season at Fontana, California's Auto Club Speedway.  Sunny weather, a fast circuit, and the hotest Time Attack cars in the nation provided the recipe for a fantastic weekend.  Many teams were in a tight points chase entering the finale event and the Takata Time Attack team was no exception.  Although Ryan Gates had already sealed his fate as the Modified AWD season champion, 2nd place was still up for grabs with James Elterman in the Takata Impreza leading the Forged Performance Nissan GTR by 9 points.  Unfortunately for James, the high speed Auto Club circuit favored the powerful and aerodynamic GTRs.  In James' favor though was a fresh powerplant under the hood cutesy of P&L Motorsports.  James was optimistic about his chances against the GTRs, and spoke about it in an interview prior to the time attack.  Check out the Redline Time Attack Pre-Grid Show at 9:17.

After a season plagued by much misfortune, the Takata team was refreshed only to encounter a couple minor problems in practice including a stuck open external wastegate and a bad MAP sensor.  The wastegate was repaired with some help from the Turn-in Concepts crew who had recently experience a similar failure.  A replacement for the MAP sensor could not be sourced unfortunately, and the engine ran rough at part throttle.  Fortunately James was able adapt to the condition.

The Time Attack sessions were an incredible site to behold as the Modified and Unlimited class cars reached speeds in excess of 160mph, with the fastest over 180mph!  Despite an impressive performance, James for the first time found himself off the podium as Ryan Gates once again took the win, followed by GTRs, including that of Forged Performance in 3rd.  In the Super Session, James was able to reclaim some points to secure 2nd place for the 2009 season.

Don't miss this interview with James Elterman in the Redline Time Attack Pre-Grid show.

Take a lap around Auto Club in the Takata Impreza on YouTube.

For photos of the event try Speed and Motion and The Octane Report.

James Elterman and Takata Impreza : 2nd in Points - Modified AWD 2009