Jason Daskalos and Johnny O’Connell earned victories in the first weekend of the GT America series at Sonoma Raceway.
Daskalos took the win in GT America Race 1 on Saturday. He was the second-fastest man in qualifying practice that morning behind Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Elias Sabo. But as Sabo only used the GT America practice session to gain valuable track time, his place on pole position was taken up by the #27 CRP/Daskalos Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Daskalos.
The World Challenge mainstay and 2023 GT America SRO3 vice-champion led Race 1 from flag to flag to take his first win of the season, 4.3 seconds ahead of Johnny O’Connell in the new #3 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 in second.
2022 SRO3 class champion George Kurtz took third place in the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes, nursing a gearbox issue to the chequered flag.
James Sofronas collided with Justin Rothberg at turn seven with three minutes left in the race. Sofronas in the #14 GMG Racing finished fourth on the road, but was given a post-race time penalty that dropped him to eighth place. Mirco Schultis in the #70 MISHUMotors Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R inherited fourth place, followed by the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes of Ross Chouest, and Rothberg in the #29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
Sofronas did set the fastest lap in Race 1, however – which gave him pole position for Race 2 on Sunday morning.
But Sofronas’ advantage was short-lived. Heading out of the Carousel (turn six), Kurtz tapped Sofronas in the left rear quarter panel and almost sent the blue Audi spinning out. Kurtz was given a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.
All the while, Chouest slipped through to take the lead and was unchallenged for much for the race – right until O’Connell, who was racing Rothberg for second place, cleared the BMW and then began chasing down the leading Mercedes.
O’Connell got within striking distance but Chouest beat him to the finish by 0.550 seconds. But Chouest’s first GT3 win was annulled shortly afterwards after his car failed to meet the minimum weight. The #50 Mercedes was moved to last place.
And O’Connell, who celebrated the start of his 40th year as a racing driver this weekend, inherited the win in his place. He will leave Sonoma with the SRO3 class championship lead as the series heads to the Long Beach Grand Prix in two weeks.
Sofronas recovered from the first-lap issues to finish second, and Kurtz was able to charge through the field after his penalty to finish third.
On the last lap, Kyle Washington in the #32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was hit by Schultis into the turn nine chicane. Washington drove away and still finished fourth. Rothberg finished fifth after he was turned around by Daskalos, who was given a drive-through penalty late in the race and finished sixth.
In the GT2 class, GT America debutant Aaron Farhadi swept both races in the #127 TPC by Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo with ease.
Farhadi won the class by over a minute in Race 1 after the #44 GMG Racing Mercedes-AMG GT2 of Brett Holden took out Alan Grossberg in the #102 TPC Lamborghini. Grossberg dropped off the lead lap and Holden was given a drive-through penalty.
Holden took control early in Race 2 but retired halfway through the race with a mechanical issue, giving way to a TPC 1-2 with Farhadi finishing 22 seconds ahead of Grossberg.
Rotek Racing entered stock car racer Isaac Sherman in its #098 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 as a last-minute addition to the field, and Sherman rose to the challenge by winning both races from pole in his GT4 debut.
Sherman led wire-to-wire in Race 1 and won by eight seconds over the #25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Gray Newell in second, and the #69 Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin of Todd Coleman in third.
He similarly dominated Race 2 – and won by 6.6 seconds over Coleman, who finished ahead of Newell in third.
Images © Brian Cleary / SRO Motorsports America
