Last year at Sonoma Raceway, competitors in GT World Challenge America and other SRO Motorsports America series weren’t even sure if they’d be racing at all, after portions of the circuit’s fresh tarmac began to break apart, putting the weekend in jeopardy.
It wasn’t the first crisis that SRO America President & CEO Greg Gill has faced over the last five years, after weathering the storm that was the COVID-19 pandemic and paltry car count in the flagship series, but he’s arrived feeling quite well about this weekend and the year to come.
As Gill recalled of that difficult opening weekend in 2024: “When we look back at a year ago, sitting at Sonoma, there was a question whether the event was going to be able to be held. The track had completely delaminated in multiple areas. It looked really unlikely that we were going to be able to continue. But due to the tremendous efforts of everybody – the members of the paddock, all the teams willing to work on the schedules, the facility, their paving contractor, and our operations team headed up by Brian Hughes, we got all but one round in.
“But, the grids were down across the board last year. This year, with the exception of our Touring Car class (TC America), all the grids are up over the prior year. So we go into 2025 really excited about the year.”
GT World Challenge America’s grid is back up to almost 20 cars despite the departures of some noteworthy challengers of recent years. Wright Motorsports, last year’s Pro champion team, has departed to go all-in on IMSA programmes. The same can be said of Samantha Tan Racing, last year’s Pro-Am runners-up. DXDT Racing has split its two GT World Challenge America Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs into single-car SRO and IMSA programmes.
But other new additions have come in this year, most notably the arrival of the newest Ford Mustang GT3, rekindling historic rivalries with both Chevrolet and Ferrari which are well-represented in this year’s field.
“The cover of our fan guide shows the Ford versus the Ferrari and we’re excited about that,” Gill says, pointing to the illustration of Dollahite Racing’s Mustang GT3 crossing Indianapolis’ yard of bricks, side by side with AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 GT3.
“But obviously, the classic Ford versus ‘The Bowtie’ is awesome to see. Last year the Corvette did fantastic. We think it’s going to be a great building year for the Mustang and the Corvette both.”
Robbie Montinola, the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at SRO America, reinforced that point, adding: “To be able to leverage the fan bases of both Corvette and Mustang in an American market is going to be spectacular.”
Not to mention, having Heart of Racing Team – the outfit running the new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH – moving into GT World Challenge, expanded programmes from Random Vandals Racing and AF Corse USA, and new teams like JMF Motorsport entering the GT3 realm for the first time, keeping a stream of continued progress from within the SRO America ladder system.
2025 also brings with it a new avenue for fans to watch, with MAVTV – which has now been acquired by and will be rebranded into RACER Network in the coming months – showing GT World Challenge America races live in the United States.
Even better, MAVTV/RACER’s offerings will not come at the expense of restricting American audiences from watching the races on YouTube or Twitch if they choose.
“What we’re most excited about is we are live on MAVTV for GT World Challenge for all rounds this season,” Montinola said. “We’ll continue free live streaming on YouTube – and Twitch, with a new watch-along format that you’ll see this weekend on Twitch that’s hosted by our commentators DJ Clark and Kyle Heyer. Content is king for us.
“It’s absolutely key to have as many viewing options as possible for as many people,” Gill responded. “Everyone talks about the ascendancy of motorsports in America. It’s doing great. How can we continue that? By putting the most people available to see it, and doing it in a format that is now much more ‘second screen’ or ‘where are you at’ to view.
“I don’t think you’re going to see the SRO ever move away from YouTube and getting new people into sports car racing. It’s our continuing area. But that being said, MAVTV has a goal themselves to be the next most important automotive sports viewing area, and they’re aggressively going after it. We’re super pleased with them as a partner, because they’re really living up to what they said they were going to do.”
This year, GT World Challenge America and the rest of the SRO America paddock will visit familiar venues in a familiar sequence, starting this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. Visits to COTA, Sebring, VIR, Road America, Barber Motorsports Park, and Indianapolis will follow (plus a GT America-exclusive trek to Long Beach).
This stability mirrors what IMSA has achieved with its calendar announcements coming in March with predictable dates and venues. At the same time, Gill is looking for opportunities to bring the series to new or returning circuits.
“We always look to see, is there a new facility or a change in venues? Every couple of years, we try to add something new. Last year we added Barber – very well-received, we’ve renewed for three years. We’re excited about continuing with them, and we’re always going to look to the future that way.
“And then, you miss a track – and let’s say, whether it’s Watkins Glen, that we haven’t gone back to (since 2022). Or Road Atlanta, where it’s been maybe a decade since we’ve been back, that we’d love to go again. There’s venues like that. Laguna Seca is another one that is certainly on our radar screen of something that our customers would love. Lime Rock is one that we’ve had great conversations with. I can definitely see the series returning there, in some fashion.”
Gill also has his eye on some of the newer American circuits without as much of a cache of high-level racing, including another crack at trying Ozarks International Raceway as a venue. “I think it’s no secret that we would love to work with Ozarks. I can see us there, definitely.
“Flatrock Motorclub, I visited – I was incredibly impressed with the quality of the facility. It is a country club facility, it’s not designed as a motorsports facility, so there are some potential issues there. But we’ve done successful events at The Thermal Club, and of course, now IndyCar has done a very successful event at Thermal. There’s always those opportunities. But most people like to be at major tracks that they’re familiar with, first and foremost. We’ll continue that way.”
Elsewhere within the dozens of garages and haulers at Sonoma, there’s a good feeling that McLaren Trophy America will have a strong first season in the SRO America umbrella. 15 cars are on the grid at Sonoma this weekend, and there are a number of strong, quality teams fielding cars with accomplished drivers in other SRO America championships.
“We are always about adding new people to experience GT racing. People talk about the SRO America ladder – we’re really proud of it – starting with GR Cup, going to TC, going to GT4… We have a great thing.
“Now, we have that opportunity with McLaren Trophy to bring people who maybe want to enter, without that same ascendancy through touring cars. This allows them to go into GT cars right off the bat,” Gill says of the new series.
Otherwise, when it comes to the GT and sports car side of SRO America, much is the same: GT World Challenge America and GT4 America are still split up into three categories without an ‘Overall Championship’ like there is in Europe and Asia, but it’s something that Gill is open to reinstating as more and more manufacturer involvement drives the direction of the series. GT America, the 40-minute, single-driver sprint series, had its proposed changes for 2025 rolled back.
And although the series is still seen as being ‘overshadowed’ in the minds of American sports car racing fans, Gill, Montinola, and the rest of SRO America are proud of an 80 per cent increase in year-over-year ticket sales over the past five seasons, and continuing to get new audiences engaged with the series by way of it being free-to-view on multiple platforms.
There is a very real opportunity for SRO America to capitalise on the massive interest in sports car racing at the moment by bringing in customers who want to go racing in a professional environment – especially in a crowded GT3 market where places in premium endurance races are only getting harder to obtain.
If nothing else, the certainty that the season will start on Saturday as planned is a big step forward compared to last year!
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America, Forte Racing
