Fredy Barth has described the Sonoma Raceway as ‘really great’ after taking a top seven finish during round 18 of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship.
Having never raced at the circuit before, the Swiss driver built up his speed during the two practice sessions and heading into qualifying, the Swiss driver just missed out on the top 12 shootout and set the 14th fastest time of the session.
This became 12th for the rolling start race after penalties were given out and a strong result was on the cards before he lost out due to a rival making a mistake and forcing the Wiechers-Sport driver off the racing line and thus dropped down the order.
He battled back to cross the line 17th overall, which became 15th once the penalties had been administered. This gave Barth sixth in the Yokohama Independents’ standings.
Round 18 saw Barth line up 13th and he worked his way up the order to cross the line 7th overall and second in the Yokohama Independents’ – his best Independents’ result of the season.
“The track is really great,” said Barth. “But I needed a few laps to grope me in the limit of distance. The team did a great job and helped me tune the car to my needs. After the bad luck in the last race, it makes me even happier that we were finally able to enter points once again. In qualifying, we still have to work. But then I’m sure we can ride up front. I’m looking forward to Shanghai!”
Wiechers-Sport Team Manager Dominik Greiner was just as pleased with how Barth performed in California and delighted with a top seven finish in the second race of the day.
“Fredy has delivered a powerful performance this weekend and only just missed a place in Q2 in qualifying,” Greiner said. “In the first race he unfortunately had some bad luck; otherwise it would certainly have been a much better result.
“In the second race Fredy has 13 laps to drive tactically and clever and fought his way place by place to the front. At the end of Fredy and the team was rewarded with a great seventh place overall! ”
Next up for Wiechers-Sport is a trip to Suzuka, Japan for rounds 19 and 20 of the season, over the 21/22 September while Barth rejoins the team for the penultimate round of the season from Shanghai, China over the 7th/8th November.