Wet Qualifying Puts Chittum on Overall Pole
April 14th 2024: Teams in the The United States Touring Car Championship's first round of 2024 found a challenging qualifying session at Thunderhill Raceway as an unexpected rainstorm drenched the facility the morning of qualifying.
In an abbreviated session Chittum quickly set two laps that put the #31 Gogogear Hyundai Genesis on overall pole above the much more powerful ST and GT cars by a full two seconds.
"The Genesis worked great on the Hankook rain tires, and my teammate Gary Sheehan really has this car dialed in." Said Chittum after passing tech. "Gogogear put a car under me today that was good for an even faster time, but we had pole well in hand thanks to our setup."
By race time the beautiful 3 mile course in Willows California dried out and a dramatic reshuffling took place with the higher class cars charging through the field. Chittum managed to hang on to 3rd place in TC, a feat made all the more impressive as his out lap was the first time he'd driven the #31 car on a dry lap.
Chittum and Sheehan will continue to team up in the Gogogear Hyundai Genesis for the season, look to many more pole positions and victories for the dynamic driving pair in 2024.