On the surface, 2023 felt a lot like ‘business as usual’ for SRO Motorsports Group America, the company which operates the flagship Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS series – but not to SRO America President & CEO Greg Gill.
DSC had the chance to sit down with Gill for a one-to-one chat at the season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour race, to talk about some of the victories of the season which has passed – and what’s next for the championship.
Arguably the greatest breakthrough for SRO America this year – and the catalyst to a significant surge in event attendance and viewership – was the work that the series did with Twitch motorsport personality Ash Vandelay this season. Vandelay starred as the host of the weekly talk show SRO Pit Pass and as the presenter of alternate, interactive race simulcasts on Twitch throughout the season.
Gill recalls meeting with Vandelay for the first time late in 2022: “When she first approached us at Sebring a year ago, and it was with a relatively small group of followers – but still, a good enthusiast and a good influencer out there – what intrigued us is because of our partnership with AWS, and Twitch being one of their properties, it seemed like something we knew from the gaming area could be good.”
He knew this collaboration had potential, but was genuinely surprised at the interest that Vandelay’s work had brought to the series – whether it was the interviews with drivers and competitors of the many SRO America-promoted series that were featured on Pit Pass, or the all-day Twitch simulcasts that felt like a gathering of friends and like-minded acquaintances to share their love of racing in a more personable environment.
“What came in – and I hate the word ‘paradigm’ – but as a paradigm shift that she did, is bringing motorsports to people who either weren’t comfortable to talk about it, didn’t know about it, or lived it in the gaming world but maybe hadn’t been able to really connect it to the real world.
“Ash has done a fantastic job. We’ve seen an increase, in some cases, a 300 per cent increase in attendance over the prior year. So it’s been really, really good working with her this year.”
From 2022 to 2023, every standalone SRO America round saw a significant increase in attendance – particularly at Indianapolis, which nearly tripled its spectator numbers; attendance for the September Sebring round doubled, as did the attendance for Circuit of the Americas’ return to SRO America racing – versus March 2020, the last event before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And that’s big for SRO America, a company that has had to weather the storm of significant rebranding after the Stephane Ratel Organisation bought the former Pirelli World Challenge series, moving towards a model of customer-focused, stand-alone events, and fluctuating participation during the first wave of COVID.
Gill has wanted to find some way to bring the fans back to his series, and at least in the short term, Vandelay’s involvement has been a gift in that regard. It’s no wonder why Vandelay was the recipient of the Jim Cook Memorial Award, presented to the individual who did the most to promote the series and showcased consistent outstanding character.
Her presence, as a tireless advocate for inclusion in the motorsport community, has also helped SRO America take stock in the diversity of its grid – from GT World Challenge America at the top, down through the brand-new Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America series that launched in 2023.
“It’s something that we started a few years ago, wanting to just put a little effort to this,” said Gill, “to make sure that everyone was welcome to the paddock, everyone was welcome to race – and removing any barriers that needed to be removed to make sure that people can be a part of it.”
More women have not only gotten onto the grid but achieved significant results in 2023. Ashton Harrison became the first woman to win a GT World Challenge America series championship last year and took her first overall win at COTA. Samantha Tan recorded her first GTWCA Pro-Am class win and made a significant step forward as a GT3 driver on both sides of the Atlantic.
In GT4 America, the Heart of Racing Team’s female talent search winners, Hannah Grisham and Rianna O’Meara-Hunt, swept their class at Indianapolis to cap off the year. In TC America, Maddie Aust was a multi-time race winner in her first season, and Sally McNulty achieved podiums in her class.
There have also been positive strides towards racial equity in a sport in which it is still lacking. African-American drivers Robb Holland and Kevin Woods won their respective classes on the same day in the GT America final round at Indy. The aforementioned Tan is an ambassador for the AAPI Victory Alliance, an advocacy and empowerment group for Asian-American people in the United States.
“We’re seeing some success, but it doesn’t happen without investment. Toyota’s making an investment, other manufacturers are making an investment as well, across the board,” Gill said.
Toyota Racing of North America has especially been one of the strongest backers in regards to a more inclusive environment in SRO America. Two of Toyota’s factory-supported stock car racers, Toni Breidinger and Isabella Robusto, were on the grid for the first GR Cup race at Sonoma. Injuries kept Robusto from running a full season but both Breidinger and skateboarder/actress/musician Mia Lovell were ever-present.
Toyota and GR Cup partner Endava also rewarded the highest-ranked woman in every race and during the season with a significant cash prize to encourage participation.
Gill could not have been happier with the launch of the Toyota GR Cup as part of SRO America. “When we heard about the concept of GR Cup – and they said, ‘well, we’re not sure which series out there is going to receive it,’ I told them, I think we’re the best fit for you, but wherever you go, we’ll strongly support it,” he said.
“This is a great programme because I felt it would bring more people into sports car racing. That’s what they’ve done, and they’ve done it in a fun way. They’ve raised the bar for everybody in motorsports right now.
“At the same time, while raising the bar, they’ve brought in a new foundation of younger drivers, more minorities, more female drivers – underrepresented people who are now getting a shot. This is great for our sport.”
We in sports car racing can get so caught up in the ‘brass tacks’ of new machines, new circuits, new teams and drivers, driver categorisations and Balance of Performance that we lose sight of these very important human elements that are worth talking about.
But you have to admit, there are a lot of new cars, circuits, and more to get excited about as the 2024 season approaches.
There’s good news for those who desire a little more variety in GT World Challenge America outside of the GT3 standard. SRO’s new GT2 category will be eligible to race in that championship in 2024, in addition to its established place in the GT America sprint series.
The Indianapolis weekend saw the American debuts of the Mercedes-AMG GT2 and KTM X-Bow GT2, and Gill anticipates more will be on their way to the ‘States. “Right now, we have three cars on the grid, and we were supposed to have four, five, or six. I think we’ll see five or six starting on the grid next year,” Gill predicted, expecting to see a mixture of familiar SRO America teams and new entities fielding GT2 cars.
“I think we look at GT2 as an emerging category. It now has 12 to 16 cars on the grid in Europe. And remember, GT3 definitely grew out of Europe. We’re seeing the same thing with GT2.
“You’re looking at both teams and drivers that are good additions to the paddock. And in some cases, I think probably 50 per cent of them are people who are already in the paddock saying, ‘It’s a model for our customers. We want to do this.’ It’s a high horsepower, low downforce car that gives people a good experience.”
GT3 will still be the backbone of World Challenge America – and the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R will be a fantastic addition to the grid courtesy DXDT Racing. Gill was, understandably, very happy about having an American manufacturer competing in the flagship series – with the prospect of the new Ford Mustang GT3 appearing sometime soon.
“It’s fantastic, and we’re all excited about it. But what I think I’m particularly excited about is that they’re taking the same attitude that Toyota took. They’re here to work in customer racing, they want to sell cars, and they want to bring more people into the sport,” Gill said.
“As Stephane Ratel is famous for saying, ‘I don’t want to resize the pie, I want to grow it.’ That’s what they want to do. We do the same thing.”
These new cars will race in new venues. GT America will support the IndyCar Series at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, and then all of SRO America’s series will head to Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park in September, coming back to a venue which has been shockingly underserved by sports car racing in America.
“I’ve said it before, it’s not a secret – I like to add one new track at least every couple of years to keep things fresh for our teams,” Gill explains.
“The Barber team really wants to grow, and put something proper together – and they’ve put good events together, so that was another attraction, that they had the horsepower and the interest. The facility is gorgeous.
“2016 was our last time racing there. I came back, and I loved to see how Birmingham has grown.”
Despite being dropped from the calendar, Gill didn’t shut the door on a return to NOLA Motorsports Park in the future, stating, “As they continue to make improvements, I’m certain that we will be back.”
Perhaps the most exciting new addition is the launch of ‘Level Up Rewards’ across all of the SRO America championships in 2024. These prizes will give the champions in each series the opportunity to advance to the next category, culminating in the GT World Challenge America champion receiving an invitation to compete in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, SRO’s premier GT3 endurance race.
The invites will be given to the champion in each series’ top class. For example, it would mean that the 2024 Pro class champion in GT World Challenge America would get the ‘Level Up Bonus’ to race at Spa in 2025.
“In Pirelli GT4 (America), where we have three classes running, it’s going to be the top class running that will receive (the invitation). In Fanatec GT World Challenge, it’s the same thing. The overall winner will receive the invitation (to the 24 Hours of Spa),” Gill clarified.
The Pirelli GT4 America Silver class champion and GT America SRO3 champions would earn the right to move up to GT World Challenge America, and the TC America TCX champion would earn the right to move up to GT4 America.
SRO America will begin its 2024 season at Sonoma Raceway in April, and conclude once again at the fifth annual Indianapolis 8 Hour race. But even with SRO America’s sanctioning body, the United States Auto Club (USAC), based right down the road from where we were sitting, many fans are curious about the future of the longest race on the GT World Challenge America calendar.
That’s because, two weeks before the 2024 Indy 8 Hour, Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host the six-hour IMSA Battle on the Bricks endurance race.
Some would see these two long-distance races being held so close together as a death sentence for the Indy 8 Hour, which would inevitably force the SRO to find a new home for the North American leg of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. After all, IMSA is the championship that can boast the biggest spectator figures, the newest and most exciting class of prototype racing, and the biggest-name teams and drivers backed by the biggest manufacturers.
But Gill is confident that this will be an opportunity for both series to build each other up rather than cannibalise each other – believing that a rising tide of interest in sports car racing will lift both ships.
“Any business person is going to see anybody else in their marketplace as competition. But as you grow and mature, you realize that we have a really good working relationship with IMSA,” he said.
“With their six-hour planned for September, we know that it will help bring more people into sports car racing by being at the Brickyard, having their Battle on the Bricks. That’ll be good for the people that it brings in.
“And it’ll be our job to enhance the experience and finish the season with the longest endurance race of the year at Indianapolis.”
Ash Vandelay pic Fabian Lagunas/SRO
Other pics Brian Cleary/ SRO
