After an up-and-down weekend at Sonoma Raceway, Patrick Long and the Wright Motorsports team head to the Pirelli World Challenge finale Oct. 7-9 just nine slim points behind the championship leader. A difficult qualifying session for Saturday’s round 18 yielded a 9th-place grid position for round 18, and set up an uphill battle through the field for Long. He crossed the finish line in p8 while his main championship rival Alvaro Parente finished in p4, closing down the gap between the two.
In Sunday’s round 19, Long started p14 and put in a stellar drive to gain 10 positions in the scant 50-minute race, ultimately finishing p4. While Parente finished ahead of Long in both races of the Sonoma doubleheader, Patrick is still in the championship hunt with the finale at Laguna Seca looming in early October. Round 20 of the Pirelli World Challenge season ought to be a tense affair, given the championships to be decided at the iconic track.
