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Edgar Lau Clinches GT Champion Title with Chris Alliegro After Maiden Win at Sonoma

Napa, CA– October 16, 2020 –Edgar Lau drove a flawless race in the #18 Ford Performance FP350S to win in the final round of the United States Touring Car Championship at Sonoma Raceway. Lau put hardly a wheel wrong over the course of 14 laps to maintain a gap of merely two seconds over the #28 Red Panther Chevrolet Corvette expertly driven by Rob Harper, who led the GT class on points heading into the season finale at Sonoma. With Lau’s win, he and codriver Chris Alliegro took home AR-G Motorsports’ first-ever USTCC GT season championship.

Qualifying

Lau took no prisoners during Saturday’s qualifying session and was able to put down a time of 1:45.9 with 60 cars on track. The torquey Ford engine was key for him to pick his way through the traffic. The lap proved to be unbeatable come Sunday’s qualifier and gave Lau pole position for the race.

Race

The Intellectual Ventures Ford Performance FP350S started the race on pole position and launched into the lead at the start. Lau drove hard through the 14-lap race, using the traffic to his advantage to maintain the gap from the chasing Corvette. After laps of trading tenths between the two cars, Lau emerged victorious at the checkered flag.

A team effort helped codrivers Lau and Alliegro take the season championship, despite some early season challenges getting the FP350S back on track. Team principal Daniel Rose donated his #19 TC class M3 for the first three races of the season, tuning the car so it could be competitive in the GT Class. Ryan Lesher and his team at Lesher Motorsports worked nights and weekends to get the FP350S race-ready for the final three stints of the season. A first-place finish by Alliegro in round 5 at Buttonwillow got the team within striking distance and set the stage for Lau to bring home the GT championship with his round 6 win at Sonoma.

Quote

Edgar Lau, driver of #18 Intellectual Ventures Ford Performance FP350S

“We came into this weekend as the underdog, trailing 5 points behind in the championship. We had to give it 100% for the championship in all areas and everyone at AR-G Motorsports delivered. I am really happy for my teammate Chris for his first championship. The FP350S proved to be a very capable car, coming out on top in harsh conditions. Thank you Lesher Motorsports for the prep work and Ford for building a strong car. I also have to give props to the AR-G team, who provided flawless and precision efforts every race for Chris and me and kept the cars going with almost no drama.”

Regarding the race, Alliegro said: “That was a hell of a scrap. Rob [Harper of team Red Panther] was driving like a man possessed. He was chipping away at Edgar’s lead the entire way. If Edgar made even a small mistake, Rob probably takes the race and season. But Edgar just kept cool, drove his race, and took it home. I’m sure I was more anxious watching than Edgar was driving.”

On his winning season, Alliegro added the following: “For me, just being able to hang with guys like Rob and Larry Bani this season was a huge confidence boost. And I can’t thank Edgar, Daniel, Doug, and Pete enough. Without their constant harassment… I mean coaching… I wouldn’t have been close.”

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

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