The United States Touring Car Championship has added the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey to its 2022 calendar. Rounds five and six of the championship will be at the world famous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 9-11, 2022, with the IndyCar series.
The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey is one of the biggest racing events on the West Coast, with tens of thousands of spectators expected.
“Our teams are excited to join one of the best races at one of the best tracks for a double header weekend of intense racing. Our partners ATP Electronics, Spec Clutch, Motul USA, Hankook Motorsports, Gary’s Airbag Service, Automotive Calibration Specialists, and National Auto Sport Association are vital to our success and we hope to bring them some exposure at this amazing race,” said Ali Arsham, Managing Director of USTCC.
The weekend starts with practice, qualifying and round five of the championship on Friday, September 9, followed by round six on Saturday, September 10. USTCC is popular with fans because the cars are production-based and are very close to the cars that are actually on the road. It is a battle between BMW, Audi, Hyundai, Honda, Volkswagen, Acura, Mazda, Lexus, Chevrolet, and many others. Fans actually will get a chance to get close and see the cars and talk to the drivers.
There are four classes in USTCC with Sportsman being the slowest class. Sportsman class cars typically have around 200 hp. Touring Car class is the next class up with cars around 250-300 hp. Super Touring bumps things up with around 350 hp being the typical case and GT cars are around 500 hp.
USTCC is a professional road racing series comprising of late model sport compact sedans such as BMW 3 series, Mazdaspeed 3, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911, Audi R8, Ford Mustang, Honda Civic and others. The cars use slightly modified engines and highly modified suspensions with aerodynamic ground effects and sticky Hankook slick race tires. The races can be seen exclusively on Final Drive TV available on NBC Sports on Xfinity cable, Dish Network, DirecTV, Hulu Live and AT&T U-verse.
Tickets for the event are available at www.weathertechraceway.com
