MC Racing Overcomes Adversity to Reach the Podium

May 11, 2025 (Sonoma, CA) – Michael McColligan, driving the #36 MC Racing Honda Civic SI, persevered

to finish 3 rd in the Sportsman Class at Round 1 of the 2025 Hankook United States Touring Car

Championship at Sonoma Raceway.

MC Racing had been working hard to improve the car during the off-season but went into the Round 1

Enduro a little uncertain, as electrical gremlins had proven challenging to overcome. In addition, team

driver Michael McColligan was still recovering from a significant hand fracture and was unsure how 2 ½

hours in the car would feel. In the one and only practice, McColligan began to immediately experience

the intermittent misfire and had to abandon. Fortunately, the GOGOGEAR team did some magic and

was able to quickly diagnose and rectify the problem with a new tune. As McColligan rolled out for

qualifying, the ABS system began to malfunction, resulting in extremely unpredictable performance,

with McColligan almost crashing twice. With limited time, the team made the decision to disable the

ABS system prior to the race to at least provide a consistent platform. MC Racing would start from the

back, and after a cautious early stint, McColligan slowly upped his pace working up to P3 prior to the pit

stop window. The team brought the car in for its one and only pit stop right at the 1 ½ hour mark and

performed a flawless stop. Unfortunately, there was some confusion with the officials holding

McColligan much longer than expected, resulting in him rejoining in P4. McColligan put his head down

and ran his fastest laps of the race to battle hard and work his way back to P3 prior to the finish.

“Considering how the weekend started off, I am extremely happy with our performance and finish this

weekend. I can’t thank GOGOGEAR Racing and all our partners enough!”, smiled a champagne-soaked

McColligan. MC Racing faces a quick turnaround to get ready for Round 2 at Laguna Seca in two weeks.

MC Racing competes in the Hankook Tires United States Touring Car Championship aboard a Mazda RX8

and Honda Civic SI with support from Idemitsu, Raybestos, Mazda USA, Mazdatrix, Racing Beat, Konig

Wheels, Orafol, Eibach Springs, and Napier Outdoors. For more information, visit

USTCC is a professional road racing series comprised 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.