Doug Makishima secures the USTCC 2020 Super Touring (ST) Season Championship
Napa, CA– October 16, 2020 – AR-G Motorsports announces that defending 2019 ST Season Champion Doug Makishima, an AR-G team principal and team driver, finished in second place in the Super Touring (ST) class in the USTCC round 6 race at Sonoma Raceway. This win secured the 2020 USTCC season championship for the team of Doug Makishima and Edgar Lau in the #23 Summit Tech BMW M3. Makishima’s fastest race lap was again significantly faster than his nearest ST competitor despite carrying 285 pounds of REWARDS weight. He started on pole for ST and 3rd overall having qualified ahead of some of the faster class GT cars. He overcame contact in the first turn of the first lap that caused him to come to a complete stop off track, and charged back through the field to a P2 finish in the ST class.
"I’m so proud of team AR-G for a fantastic, nearly flawless season,” said Makishima. “The AR-G crew had #23 BMW M3 well sorted and prepped all season long. The contact at the start of this race was unfortunate and I feel it could have been avoided with more heads-up driving by other competitors. It worked out in the end as a P2 finish secured us the season championship, but it was bitter-sweet because a P1 finish would have made it a perfect season with wins in every race. I want to thank our crew, fans and sponsors for their support all season long, and special thanks to teammate Edgar Lau, who jumped in the #23 in rounds 4 and to 5 rack up two more wins for our team.”
Team AR-G won three championships this season with teammates Chris Alliegro / Edgar Lau winning the GT class and Pete Bovenberg winning the SP class. This beat last season where the team won 2 championships. Combined, these two seasons make AR-G the most successful team in USTCC in recent memory.
About ARG:
Apex Racing Global (AR-G) Motorsports is a leading Northern California professional auto racing team based in Napa, Ca. In AR-G's first full United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) race season, the team won two championships and two 2nd runner-ups in the season championship across all four classes (ST, SP, TC and GT). The team principals and drivers come from top race teams, and together have amassed decades of racing experience, both domestically and internationally. Founded in 2018, the team is currently campaigning BMW M3s and other high performance touring cars in the USTCC series, where it is consistently on the podium. @argmotorsports
About USTCC
USTCC is a professional road racing series comprising of late model sport compact sedans such as BMW 3 series, Mazdaspeed 3, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911, Audi R8, Ford Mustang, Honda Civic and others. The cars use slightly modified engines and highly modified suspensions with aerodynamic ground effects and sticky Hankook slick race tires. The races can be seen exclusively on Final Drive TV available on NBC Sports on Xfinity cable, Dish Network, DirecTV and AT&T U-verse. For more information on USTCC, visit www.ustcc.com