Winding up the scenic hills of Northern California’s wine country, Sonoma Raceway played host to the penultimate race meet of the Pirelli World Challenge this year. A highly technical, 3.8-kilometre road course set in the Napa Valley, only a short drive north from San Francisco, Sonoma has seen innumerable races from America’s leading racing series like NASCAR, IndyCar, the now-defunct Rolex Sports Car Series and American Le Mans Series, and a host of thrilling support events.
Several additions to an already first-class grid made headlines going into Sonoma. Scuderia Corsa, a team competing in the Tudor Championship’s GTD class, confirmed their World Challenge series debut several weeks ahead of time, signing Mike Hedlund as driver. Additionally, Christina Nielsen, an already massively experienced Danish racer with youth and family legacy on her side, confirmed her series debut with TRG-AMR. Finally, Guy Smith confirmed he would race alongside Butch Leitzinger at Dyson Racing Team Bentley for the remainder of the season. The Yorkshireman brings unparalleled expertise and prestige to the growing series, with his 2003 win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans just one of his career highlights.
Practice and Qualifying
Over forty cars took to the circuit on Friday morning’s practice session, kicking off an eventful weekend of racing with the IndyCar Series also on the bill, as usual. Mike Skeen soon drove his #2 Hawk Performance Audi R8 Ultra to a blistering 1:34.700, which would stand as the fastest time for the rest of the day despite the best efforts of Butch Leitzinger. The seasoned racing veteran, hailing from State College, Pennsylvania, reigned in a 1:35.272 in the second practice session while piloting the #08 Bentley Continental GT3, still relatively new to the World Challenge racing.
Albert von Thurn und Taxis was Friday’s fastest GT-A competitor in the #24 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo FL2, posting a 1:35.511 in the first session, while the ageless Jack Baldwin, driving the #73 GTSport Racing Porsche Cayman S, usurped Jack Roush Jr’s pacesetting time from the first practice session. Baldwin cut down Roush Jr’s 1:43.050 to a record-setting 1:42.419 in GTS, an incredible achievement to conclude the day.
Saturday brought significantly cloudier skies and cooler conditions, ideal for breaking more track records and capitalizing on an early morning qualifying session. Mike Skeen carried his momentum into a stellar 1:33.167, good enough for pole over the two Bentley Continental GT3’s of Leitzinger and Smith. Albert von Thurn und Taxis was once again quickest in GT-A with a 1:34.377, and Jack Baldwin’s good fortune continued with another record-breaking time and very little competition from the rest of the GTS field.
“I am thrilled to give GTSport Racing the pole and a new track record for all of the hard work they have done to get us to this point,” Baldwin said. “Our RESET-MD team continues to get better and better.
GT/GT-A Race 1
The first of two races heading up the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sonoma got off to a riotous start after the #06 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Santiago Creel collected a stalled #42 Acura TLX-GT of Peter Cunningham just seconds after the green flag. This, combined with drama between two other GTS competitors and an uncharacteristic off by Guy Smith, initiated a caution that would last 18 minutes.
The race would resume on lap 7 with Mike Skeen still at the head of the field and the #31 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3R of Ryan Dalziel in hot pursuit after a dynamic start from 6th to 2nd.
Skeen would lead the rest of the 19 remaining laps to take his third win of the season while maintaining a small but stable gap to the rest of the field. Dalziel’s second position would routinely be harassed by a charging Butch Leitzinger, but the Scotsman would ultimately hang on to his position while Leitzinger brought home the first podium in World Challenge competition for the Bentley Continental GT3.
“We had all the laps out front, but tons of traffic, and a very dirty track,” said Skeen post-race. “It was very tight. Cooperation with traffic is crucial. I couldn’t let up as we had Ryan and Butch behind pushing me. We closed up pretty good today and look for more tomorrow.”
GT-A was far less straightforward. Polesitter Albert von Thurn und Taxis was leading up until lap 21, when an unforeseen mechanical problem left his car retired from the race painfully late in the going. This allowed Michael Mills, who had expertly driven his way past the bulk of the GT-A field after a dreadful start, to inherit the lead in the #41 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3R. Mills would take the class win over #99 Jeff Courtney and #0 Marcelo Hahn.
“I had the worst start in the world, and was rolling around in last place, wondering how I could do this,” Mills said. “My car was so good, I had contact with someone that knocked the alignment out. Put my head down, made no mistakes, let the race come to me and the guys started falling like flies.”
GTS Race 1
The momentum behind Jack Baldwin’s domination during practice and qualifying in GTS was simply too much to stop, as the 66-year-old Georgian took a comfortable race victory, leading flag-to-flag and also setting fastest lap of the race.
“The last two years here have been pretty rough, and this year in particular has been pretty tough, but we never gave up despite the wrecks, gearboxes and everything else,” Baldwin said. “For me, I wanted to seal the deal for these guys who have worked so hard all year.
“My wife’s here, daughters are here we raced for Kelsey today,” continued Baldwin, referencing his commitment to Kelsey Flanigan, a 23-year-old battling brain cancer. “So to do this at Sonoma, we got our monkey off our back and we might be back in the game here points-wise. You just never know.”
Lawson Aschenbach took his fourth podium position in the last five races, wrestling his #1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro from a mediocre start of the season to championship contention. Joey Atterbury took his #33 Capaldi Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302S to a well-earned third, his first podium of the year.
GT/GT-A Race 2
Racecars weren’t exactly the only things shaking the earth on Sunday. At approximately 3:20 a.m. on the morning of August 24, a severe, 6.0-magnitude earthquake ripped through the Napa Valley and San Francisco Bay Areas, the largest felt in those respective areas since 1989. Followed by several minor aftershocks, the earthquake thankfully didn’t cause any damage to the circuit, but the same can’t be said for the accommodations!
The starting grid for the second day of World Challenge racing is determined by the fastest laps of each driver in the previous round. As a result, Guy Smith started on pole for round 14 after setting the fastest lap of the race on Saturday, while the #61 R.Ferri Motorsports Ferrari 458 GT3 of Anthony Lazzaro would line up second with Robert Thorne taking his #9 K-PAX Racing McLaren MP4 12C GT3 to third.
Still very new to the Pirelli World Challenge, the Bentley Continental GT3’s standings starts have not been refined like many other FIA GT3-homologated packages, so Guy Smith was perhaps unsurprised to be swamped at the drop of the green. After a quick battle up the hill into turn 1, Anthony Lazzaro gained the upper hand on Robert Thorne’s McLaren for the lead. Ryan Dalziel would then drive his EFFORT Racing Porsche past Thorne on the hairpin leading onto the front straight just before completing the first lap.
Lazzaro, Dalziel, and Thorne would finish in aforementioned succession, driving a relatively unchallenged race. Series returnee Mike Hedlund drove a spirited race under the debuting Scuderia Corsa banner, managing to pass both Bentley’s, the #3 Cadillac CTS-V R of Johnny O’Connell, and Mike Skeen. After repeated contact with O’Connell, Skeen would come off the worse for wear, accruing a flat tire and a subsequent pitstop that ruined his chances at a podium finish. The race would ultimately come to conclusion under a full course caution, a slightly disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic event and weekend.
“Starting with yesterday, we had a puncture,” commented the race-winning Lazzaro. “I’ve raced 30-odd years and it can’t be more than five flats, and this year alone I’ve had two. The car’s been perfect all weekend. Any day you’re driving a red Ferrari it’s a great day.
“Championship-wise, I don’t really care anymore. I don’t even know how we got to third. From here on out, it’s all about race wins, and we got another one today.”
In the German’s last scheduled race of the season, Albert von Thurn und Taxis took his maiden GT-A victory with Reiter Engineering after several tantalizing podiums.
“Today was such a great race,” said the German prince. “We understood something about this beautiful, beautiful track. To be honest, I was not exactly aware where I was in the race, who I was racing, but I was just completely in the zone, enjoying myself.”
GTS Race 2
At the green, Jack Baldwin immediately had to take avoiding action for a stalled #21 GMG Racing Audi R8 Ultra of Andrew Palmer, losing him the lead in GTS. Meanwhile, Andy Lee rocketed up nine spots to the lead in his #20 BestIT Racing Chevrolet Camaro.
But Lee wouldn’t have the lead for very long. At the end of lap 3, Lawson Aschenbach, who sat on class pole for Saturday’s race, made a dynamic pass after patiently waiting to strike. Lee would fall back into battle with the #38 Kia Optima of Mark Wilkins, allowing polesitter Jack Baldwin to close the gap. Baldwin would make a pass on both Lee and Wilkins in the dying minutes of the race.
Despite a storming drive back to the front by Baldwin, Lawson Aschenbach would take his #1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro to a victory with the Porsche Cayman only 1.48 seconds behind at the line. Andy Lee would snag the final podium position in third.
“It comes down to execution. That’s half the battle,” said Aschenbach. “We came to a track that’s low grip, with a lot of elevation changes. It’s not a great place for us. We made so many changes over the course of the weekend, and finally hit the nail on the head.”
The provisional standings show that Johnny O’Connell will carry his points lead into yet another race, backed up by solid finishes at nearly every venue. Second-placed Mike Skeen trails O’Connell by 42 points, 1334 to O’Connell’s 1376, while Michael Mills retains his GT-A championship lead. Mark Wilkins clasps an 80-point lead in GTS over Lawson Aschenbach (1333-1253).
A groundbreaking season for the Pirelli World Challenge will conclude after two rounds at the next race meet at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Practice will kick off at 8:35 a.m. on Friday, September 12, followed by qualifying on Friday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. (all times local). The condensed schedule sees the first race set to take place at 4:50 p.m. the same day, followed by the 16th and final round of the year held on Saturday, September 13, at 2:15. p.m.
Beck Duggleby
