Dave Brown wins at Infineon Raceway but Brandon Kraus wins Driver’s Championship
Sonoma, CA. November 14, 2011 – Dave Brown won the Nitto Tires United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California on November 13, 2011 driving the Hawk/Works/San Rafael Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. Brown jumped to the start at the start of the race and soon began to pull away hoping that a win would give him the Driver’s Championship. Behind him there was a lot going on as the other championship contenders were having issues. Finishing in second place was Brandon Kraus in the Roger Kraus Racing Honda Prelude who was the points leader going into the weekend. Kraus’ second place finish was enough to give him the title. Finishing in third place was the TNI Racing Mazdaspeed 3 of Felipe Cabezas.
At the start of the race it was Brown who rocketed to the front with Cabezas right behind. The two were bumper to bumper for the first few laps of the race. Meantime, Kraus who had qualified on the pole and had the race in hand had problems from the drop of the green flag. As soon as the race started, Kraus launched poorly and was passed by several cars. To make matters worse, an ignition issue surfaced that caused the Honda to sputter intermittently.