The Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series has announced that it has struck a two-year agreement with Yokohama Tire to become a new premier sponsor. Yokohama will sponsor the Yokohama Showdown, a competition that will take place on two Club Racing weekends.
The 2018 Showdown will be run on the Watkins Glen race weekend on October 5–8 in the East, and on the November 10–11 Thunderhill Raceway Park race weekend in the West.
Yokohama Tire Gift Certificates will be awarded to the first-, second-, and third-place winners in each event, worth $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second, and $1,000 for third. The certificate will entitle the holder to purchase either Yokohama race tires or street tires.
Both race weekends are designated as national events, in which points can be awarded in four races; typically, one race offers 200% points, two offer 150%, and another offers 100%.
Showdown winners will be determined by a formula that awards points for finishing positions within classes weighted by the national points allocated to the race. There must be at least three participants in a class for participants to be eligible for the Showdown. The three winners will be those who score the most points across all races run over the course of the event.
To be eligible, racers must participate in at least three BMW CCA Club Racing weekends in 2018, anywhere in the USA or Canada, prior to the Yokohama Showdown weekend. The Showdown is an additional competition that complements the series’ championship chases. Racers who choose not to participate in the Showdown will still earn points toward national and regional class championships for each race. —Brian Morgan