Bath breaks through at Sonoma!
Sonoma Raceway hosted round three of a hotly contested 2021 Apex Racing League Touring Car Championship (ARLTC). This undulating Californian gem has changed name more than an ARLTC race lead is swapped! Christened Sears Point in 1968 but renamed to Golden State Raceway in 1981 following various ownership changes. Two years later, the Sears Point moniker returned after the facility was auctioned off to the highest bidder. In 2002, Sears Point morphed into Infineon Raceway and finally, in 2012, became known as Sonoma Raceway. Got it? Excellent.
So far, a cast of challengers have made their claim as championship contenders. Defending champion, Kieran Harrison, has applied his trademark measured approach to great effect. HM Engineering’s star has quietly collected points, whilst others are drawn in to battles of attrition.
Super Swede Carl Jansson has been on maximum attack since the green light at Silverstone two weeks ago. Jansson makes no friends on his way to the front and has been rewarded and punished in equal measure. Although arriving at Sonoma as the championship leader, Jansson started race one from pit lane, following a post-race penalty at Road America.
Qualifying
Former champion, Wojciech Swirydowicz, stormed the open qualifying session to edge out Kieran Harrison by sixteen-thousandths of a second for pole position. Three Spires Boosted motorsport’s Ben Gregory was fastest in the AM category in twenty-first position.
Race 1
While Swirydowicz launched his Apex Racing Team Audi cleanly off the line, Jack Sedgwick and Kieran Harrison contested second place. Watching this unfolding in his mirrors, Swirydowicz seized the opportunity and built an unassailable gap early on. Despite Harrison’s best efforts, Sedgwick nabbed second spot from a race long duel with the defending champion. Ben Gregory edged into the top twenty and converted his AM pole into a class win.
Race 2
A largely reversed grid for the second contest sent the race one podium finishers to the wrong end of the top forty. On the technical contours of Sonoma, fighting to the front would be a tall order indeed.
Martin Shirley led a trio of AM class drivers into turn one but, sadly, Shirley’s leading charge ended in the gravel trap after a handful of corners. However, the story of race two was all about Carl Jansson. Starting race one from pit lane, Jansson became embroiled in the mid pack melee and incurred severe damage. Nevertheless, the tenacious Swede miraculously trudged to twenty-sixth place in a heavily wounded Audi RS3 LMS TCR. Starting from tenth in race two, Jansson swiftly moved up the order in trademark style. By the end of the sixth lap, Jansson assumed the lead. Once into the blissful clear air, Jansson sped to a comfortable win. Oliver Ackermann spent most of the race fending off fellow German, Marcel Tie, but held firm for second place.
Thirteenth overall was man of the meeting, Adam Bath. A win in the AM category was the headline for the Midlander. However, this was the culmination of fantastic performances across all three races for the Scuderia Alpha Touring Car ace.
Race 3
Race three belonged to Kieran Harrison in the #1 HM Engineering Audi. From twenty-first on the grid, the Briton stealthily scythed through the pack and assumed the lead by lap seven. Such a strong ascent through the pack proves that Harrison has all the tools for a championship defence.
Hesketh Racing’s Mark Johnston continued his impressive start to the season in the AM category with a top ten overall and class win in the final Apex Racing League Touring Car Championship race of the evening.
Post Race
In the aftermath of the action, several of the ARLTC paddock joined the Apex Racing TV commentary crew to share their thoughts:
Adam Bath: “That was definitely one of the best race meetings of the season so far!
Kieran Harrison: “It was surprisingly good. I was fearing the worst coming into this track, you saw the carnage that unfolded, I saw that coming. I think in race three I passed eleven cars in the first corner!”
Preben Walle: “Race one was decent. I knew I had a lot of pace but I messed up qualifying. Unfortunately, my team mate and I had a little incident in race three at turn one so that was my race done.”
Next Round
In a fortnight’s time, the Apex Racing League Touring Car Championship reconvenes at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for round four of the championship. Tune in to Apex Racing TV at 8pm for live coverage of all three races.
