Despite a bumpy start to the weekend, rising star Andreas Wirth savours his second victory of 2006 in the Lone Star State. source: Andreas Wirth Racing Making his third career Atlantic victory even sweeter, Andreas' win in Houston represents the first time in 14 years that a driver has captured back-to-back wins in the opening two rounds of an Atlantic Championship. Starting from second on the grid, Andreas took the lead in the early stages of an action packed race with a picture-perfect pass on the pole-sitter, Raphael Matos, on the new temporary track on the grounds of Reliant Stadium where it was said little passing would be had. "We struggled a bit all weekend with the setup over the bumps" said Wirth, "We weren't way off the pace in practice or qualifying and we just weren't at the level we were in Long Beach, but it was just about impossible to get a good clean lap in qualifying because of all the traffic and red flags, so I was a bit disappointed. Fortunately though, my car was really good at the beginning of the race, and I could get by Matos and just pull away." As Wirth's car went away from him mid-race, increased tire pressures meant early braking and his early lead slipped from his grasp on lap 18 of what would go on to be a timed race, cut short to 36 laps. "The tire pressures got a bit too high and I had to brake way early in the corners and ended up losing two positions. Raphael got by and Graham just followed him through the inside of the corner and got past also, so I was thinking that was it."
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