Buttonwillow, CA -- The 2026 season opener of the United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) West Region kicked off at the brand new Buttonwillow Circuit in Southern California on April 25-26, 2026. Familiar faces were at the front of the grid but that does not mean that things were quiet.

Andy Chittum (USA) returned to defend his unbeaten 2025 championship season. Minutes before the qualifying session’s start, it started to rain, creating some slippery conditions. But that did not seem to bother the 2025 Sportsman Champion as he grabbed the pole position by about half of a second driving the MadMan Motorsports Mazda MX5. Qualifying second was Reza Arsham (IRN) who switched cars for this race and was driving the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels Sportsman K24 powered Civic instead of his usual FK8 Civic Type R. Micheal McColligan qualified third in the MC Racing Honda Civic.

In the Touring Car class, Ali Arsham returned in the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels Hyundai Genesis and claimed pole position over the VT Racing Volvo C30R of Tim Hunter. Ken Kurtz had problems with his primary car and switched to the BAF Racing Ford Mustang and grabbed the pole position in GT while Enrique Ferreira made the change to a new car and new team, running the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels BMW 328i E90 Cup car.

The start of the race was a big challenge with lots of cars on grid. The damp track and the cold conditions made the early stages very challenging. “It was hard to get the tire temperatures up and it was slippery off line. And I could not get my oil temperature up to a normal level either so I had to take it easy on the engine,” Said Ali Arsham.

Fortunately, there were no issues as everyone was cautious and made it through. The race was basically decided by the first turn as Reza Arsham went for a tight gap at turn 1 and jumped to the lead. Andy Chittum’s Mazda lost a few seconds to navigate through traffic and after that it was hard to make up the lost time.

In the end, Reza took the victory in the Sportsman class over Chittum with McColligan finishing a solid third. Ali Arsham put his Genesis in first place in the Touring Car class ahead of the Volvo of Tim Hunter. Ken Kurtz took first place in the GT class and Enrique Ferreira scored the first ever win for the new E90 Cup class.

The teams hope for an easier schedule for round 2 at Sonoma since the combination of the weather and the compressed schedule was hard on the crew.