Konig Wheels Help Propel Team to Victory

The Gary Sheehan and Ali Arsham team recorded their third win in a row in the touring class at the Mazda Raceway during the Nitto Tires United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC). This seems to be a good year for the team and there in nothing that will slow them down

Intense Qualifying Session

The qualifying sessions were intense especially the second one where four Touring drivers were all aiming for the top spot. Gary Sheehan was the first to go in his GoGoGear.com/ UTI/ Konig Wheels Hyundai Genesis Coupe setting his best time. This was quickly challenged by Mike Sekhon in his BTM Motorwerks BMW M3 who set a new best of 1:42.696. Mario Lento shuttered this in his Hawk/Competition Clutch Mitsubishi Lancer setting a new best of 1.41.834. In the end, the top three to start were Mario Lento, Gary Sheehan and Jason Alexandridis.

The Main Race

The race start was confusing for some drivers as the starter prematurely waved the green flag catching most of them by surprise. It was all down to competition between the all wheel drives and the rear wheel drives. The Hyundai Genesis of Sheehan/Arsham was fitted with the new Konig Integram (Matte Graphite). These are the new wheels in the Flow Forming Technology line-up from Konig. Others include the Konig Centigram, Milligram and Dial in wheels.

At some point during the race, Lento’s Mitsubishi Lancer was on the outside and he thought he had an edge over Sheehan’s Hyundai Genesis. Sheehan got the Hyundai to the inside by Turn 2 forcing Lento to tuck behind. This is the point these two started pulling away from the pack. They left five cars including that of championship contender Mike Sekhon to battle it out for the third spot. Sekhon’s hopes were cut short a few second later when he pulled over due to suspension problems.

Alexandridis took the opportunity to work his way up to third place. In the end, Sheehan followed by Lento who was followed by Alexandridis held the top three spots. The time difference between Sheehan and Lento was only ten seconds. The rest of the drivers closing the top five round include Geri Amani-R and Simmons/Bovenberg.

In the points standings, Gary Sheehan and Ali Arsham are on top with 394 points with Lento coming in second with 343 points and Kari Chicca third with 329 points.

At this point, three races are remaining for the 2014 season to end. The final race will be in November.

By: James Langston

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