Round 4 of the United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) from Sonoma Raceway was full of drama and action as usual.

Sunday during qualifying two of the front runners experienced emotional disappointments. Michael McColligan was driving the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels Honda Civic and was on a hot lap when the transmission decided that fourth gear was no longer needed. The loud crunch meant that he had to start in the back of the pack and had to take the green flag to score some points.

Minutes after the McColligan transmission problem, Seong Kim had a much bigger issue as the JB Autoworkz BMW M3 went too fast into turn 10. Kim found himself in the dirt on the exit and the car got sideways and smashed against the inside wall. The damage was too much to fix and Kim had to start the race in a back up car.

In the race, there were several noteworthy battles. In the Super Touring class, Daniel Rose, driving the Rose Construction BMW M3 had a spectacular battle with Reza Arsham’s GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels Honda Civic Type R. The two switched positions four or five times until finally Rose started to pull away and took the win with Arsham finishing second.

In the Touring Car class, the fight was between Tom Lepper’s GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels Hyundai Genesis versus Andy Chittum in the other Genesis. Lepper took the early lead and looked to control the race but Chittum just sat back and waited for a mistake. “As soon as I noticed the rear tires on Tom’s car started to overheat, I knew it was time to attack,” said Chittum. Chittum and Lepper were side by side through turn 1, turn 2, turn 3, and turn 4 until Chittum finally took the lead. Fred Snow in the DMA Hyundai Genesis finished third.

Sportsman is always full of action and this time the battle was between Ben Penn’s EcoFlow BMW 328i versus Chris Evertsen’s Speed Traveler BMW 330i. Penn took the early lead but Evertsen made a great last minute pass at turn 11 to take the lead only for Penn to retake the position by turn 2. Evertsen got a great exit out of turn 10 a few laps later and decided to charge on the inside of Penn at turn 11 once again. This time he locked up his wheels and ended up in the tire wall and hitting Penn in the process. Penn did not look like he suffered much and kept going but Evertsen lost about 30 seconds until he could get going again and ended up finishing third. Tom Milburn’s Bay Area Drafting Acura RSX finished second.

As the championship progresses, racing fans eagerly anticipate the next rounds of the United States Touring Car Championship, where drivers will continue to push the limits of their cars and skills in pursuit of victory racing with IndyCar at the Portland Grand Prix. The USTCC remains a premier platform for touring car racing in the United States, showcasing the best drivers and teams in the country.