Another podium!
Reto Baumann retains his top three finishing streak

San Ramon, CA – A stuck thermostat provided some work over this race weekend where we had to manage the continued cooling issues. That limited track time a lot, to the point that Reto lost all of his sessions on Saturday and was only able to do two fast laps in Sunday mornings qualifying run. Only two fast laps because of broken down cars resulting in yellow flags around the course. Reto managed to get the car qualified second in class and sixth overall. We are convinced that Reto would have been able to put down faster laps if having had more track time. Never the less, he went on to race this round of the United States Touring Car Championship with only a handful laps under his belt…

Reto Baumann reviews his performance of this weekend:
“Sonoma is a tough track. Especially when you haven’t been running there for a while. Additionally, having been limited with track time due to overheating issues didn’t help. Never the less, I was able to put in two respectable laps in Sunday mornings qualifying that earned us a third row starting position behind the GT cars and one other ST car. A big thank you to the Red Panther Motorsport crew in getting us out on track in order to compete! Having to start the race on the dirty side of the track made life difficult to get a good get-away and I lost three positions. To my surprise, a few laps later I found myself leading the ST class... I continued to run consistent lap times, but eventually was caught up by Doug Makishima in his BMW M3. We had a good scrap over about one and a half to two laps, but eventually I gave too much room on the inside entering the carrousel and he got by me. From that point on, I stayed in his rear view, but couldn’t challenge for the win anymore. We are still underpowered with the car and are working hard at trying to sort this out. Given the fact that we are seeking solutions regarding our power disadvantage, I am hoping to be more competitive to the end of the season and looking forward to more close battles in the Super Touring (ST) class. Off to Buttonwillow next, which is a track I really like.”

About Red Panther Motorsport (RPM)
A leading California based professional racing team. RPM competes in the Hankook Tires United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) race series. For more information please see and visit www.RedPantherMotorsport.com and also like us on our social media channels.