With less than four weeks until the start of the 2025 GT World Challenge America season, the grid for the first race at Sonoma Raceway is mostly assembled and promises a bigger turnout than at the start of the 2024 season.
The Ford Mustang GT3 will make its series debut at Sonoma, as will the improved BMW M4 GT3 EVO alongside teams from Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, and Porsche – who will all score points towards the global GT World Challenge Manufacturers’ Championship.
With so much growth across American sports car racing today, there is a real opportunity for GT World Challenge America to gain momentum and continue to attract new customers who want to go racing against their peers.
Aston Martin will be represented by The Heart of Racing Team, whose expansion to the top prototype categories in the FIA WEC and IMSA has led to an opportunity for Gray Newell to move up the GT racing ladder after success in GT4 America. Newell will drive the #24 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 ‘EVO’ alongside a legend of the marque, Darren Turner.
Racers Edge Motorsports also joins the Aston Martin Racing family after a successful partnership with Acura, with Jason Bell and Michael Cooper set to drive the #2 Vantage.
A four-car BMW M fleet is headlined by the reigning Pro-Am Champions, Turner Motorsport, and drivers Justin Rothberg and Robby Foley who are set to run it back in the #29 machine.
There is also the two-car effort from Random Vandals Racing, which has signed Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi to drive the #99 BMW in the Pro class (with Conor Daly already committed to run the season-ending Indy 8 Hour), and in the new #51 BMW, Varun Choksey and BMW legend Bill Auberlen join the team in a transfer from ST Racing.
Completing the group is Flying Lizard Motorsports’ #8 BMW which appeared mid-season after a switch from Aston Martin.
DXDT Racing has scaled back to just one Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in GT World Challenge America – with the other now competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – but the #11 DXDT Corvette still presents a formidable Pro-Am combination of Blake McDonald and Daytona 24 Hours class winner Matt Bell.
AF Corse will run two Ferrari 296 GT3s out of its USA headquarters in Miami. After a partial season in the Am class, Jay Schreibman and Oswaldo Negri Jnr are back to drive the #163 Ferrari full-time. The new entry is a Pro-Am car, the #16 Ferrari.
As mentioned, the Ford Mustang GT3 will race for the first time in GT World Challenge America via Dollahite Racing. Scott Dollahite is set to drive the #6 Mustang with another driver to be revealed in the coming days.
That brings us to Mercedes-AMG which has four cars, including the welcome return of CrowdStrike by Riley, George Kurtz, and Colin Braun to the series with the #04 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The 2023 Pro-Am Champions are back, hoping to return to their previous glory.
Regulator Racing is back with the #91 Mercedes-AMG of Jeff Burton and Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver Philip Ellis set to build on a successful season that yielded two Pro-Am wins and an overall race win.
Moving up to GT World Challenge America is Canadian team JMF Motorsports. JMF mainstay Michai Stephens gets his first real opportunity in a GT3 car as he joins Mikaël Grenier, another AMG works driver, in the #34 car.
Then there’s CRP Racing which graduates from the GT America series. Jason Daskalos, a mainstay of this paddock going back to the Speed/Pirelli World Challenge years, will drive the #27 Mercedes alongside reigning GT America GT4 Champion, Isaac Sherman, who made an outstanding switch to sports car racing in 2024.
There are two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs in the field as well. After a late start to its 2024 season, the newly-rechristened LAB Motorsport by GT Racing team is back for its first full season, retaining Jean-Frederic Laberge and Kyle Marcelli to drive the #92 Porsche.
GMG Racing welcomes back Pro-Am class winners Kyle Washington and Tom Sargent to drive the #32 Porsche for their second year together.
And RS1, the 2023 Pro Class Champions who split time between Pro and Pro-Am last season, will return with its #18 Porsche.
Finally, there are two teams who – for the moment – haven’t disclosed their manufacturer allegiances.
One is Chouest Povoledo Racing, which returns to the series after a difficult first season in GT World Challenge America.
The other is Archangel Motorsports, which boasts over 25 years of racing experience at the highest levels of sports car racing. They’re set to start a new programme that “is sure to make a splash and turn heads,” according to GT World Challenge America’s press release issued today!
Counting from the top, that makes 19 entries and we should hope to see them all – plus more guests as the season progresses – at the opening double-header in Sonoma.
Images © SRO Motorsports America, DXDT Racing, Ford Performance
