Sonoma, CA -- The 2026 round 3 of the United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) West Region was at Sonoma Raceway on June 7, 2026. Familiar faces were at the front of the grid but that does not mean that things were quiet. With a 2.5 race to look forward to, strategy was going to be a factor as teams and drivers looked though the rules for an advantage.

Ali Arsham qualified on pole position in the TC class with the Konig Wheels Hyundai Genesis and lead the opening few laps but his teammate Gordon Pun was going to start the race. Tim Hunter's VT Racing Volvo C30R started second. Andy Chittum's Folie Jolie Hats Mazda MX5 took the pole position with Reza Arsham's K24 powered Konig Wheels Honda Civic in second and Ben Penn's BMW 328i in third place. Enrique Ferreira continued his great run with another pole driving the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels BMW 328i E90 Cup car with the TNI Racing BMW 328i E90 Cup car of William Schweitzer starting second. In the GT class, Ken Kurtz switched to a GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels Hyundai and qualified second to the Camaro GT4R of Ehsan Farkhondeh and Wes Brandon. Andrew Reed would start third in the BAF Racing Ford Mustang.

Once the race got underway, the Sportsman cars clearly had different agendas. Chittum went for the ultimate speed and nearly eclipsed the lap record set by Arsham just one race ago but fell short by 0.1 second. Penn decided to go slower and use the fuel capacity advantage of the BMW to try to go non stop for the race. The high revving Honda of Arsham, co-driven by Tom Lepper, was having issues as the Honda was limited by a small fuel capacity and its high power could not be utilized. At the end, Penn just squeaked by with a win with Chittum closing in quickly, only 4 seconds behind. Arsham/Lepper finished third.

In the TC class, the battle was between Gordon Pun's Hyundai and the Volvo of Tim Hunter. Hunter had a decisive edge after the mid way point and it seemed like the Hyundai just was not getting great fuel economy. But after the pit stops, Pun put the pedal down and started to chase the Volvo but he pushed too hard and spun at Turn 7. It seemed like Hunter had his first win in the bag until he had his own spin followed by fuel issues that handed the win to Pun.

The GT class was dominated by the ferocious Camaro GT4R of Farkhondeh/Brandon. But after about an hour, Kurtz who was in second place got a call on the radio informing him that the Camaro had a ruptured tire and now was the leader. Kurtz took the win with Farkhondeh/Brandon second and Andrew Reed in third place.

Enrique Ferreira continued his great run with another win in E90 Cup with the TNI Racing BMW 328i E90 Cup car of William Schweitzer finishing second and winning the Plastex Top Rookie award.

Round 4 brings the team back to Sonoma in July giving the teams little time to make repairs and updates.