A year after JMF Motorsports began racing in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, the team celebrated a successful anniversary with a win in the opening round of the 2026 season at Sonoma Raceway.
The #34 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Michai Stephens and Mikaël Grenier won from pole position and led most of Sunday afternoon’s three-hour race. It was only last year that Stephens, Grenier, and JMF won race one of last year’s Sonoma doubleheader, in their very first GT3 race.
But in 2026, the series begins a new era, with race weekends comprised of a single three-hour race instead of the two 90-minute races which were the standard since 2019. New competitors made up a sizeable portion of the 18-car field that took the green flag.
Stephens took the early lead, though the #6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 of Alex Sedgwick stuck with the leader as they pulled away from the pack. Any chance for either driver to pull away was thwarted with an early Safety Car after a collision at Turn 17 between the #14 Riley Motorsports BMW of Slade Stewart and the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Derek DeBoer. DeBoer was able to recover with some damage to the rear bodywork, but Stewart and “Sparklefarts’” first races in GT World America were over after just five laps.
From the restart, Stephens and Sedgwick continued to lead the race. Stephens extended his lead out to over three seconds as they approached the 50-minute maximum stint time. In the pits, Stephens stayed in the #34 JMF Mercedes for a double stint, while Sedgwick yielded to co-driver Cameron Lawrence as Dollahite Racing elected to swap drivers at each stop.
Matias Pérez Companc in the #12 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo then fought Stephens for the lead, but Stephens retained his advantage until just before half-distance, when the #34 Mercedes-AMG came in for routine service and a driver change. The #12 AF Corse Ferrari ran a shorter second stint to maximise Frederik Schandorff’s time behind the wheel, and with about an hour to go, Schandorff was able to close in to within half a second of Grenier.
With about 50 minutes to go, the window opened for the final round of routine pit stops. Schandorff came in first from second place, then Grenier came in from the lead a lap later. With the help of a perfect pit stop from the JMF Motorsports crew, the #34 Mercedes-AMG left the pits with a new set of Pirelli tyres and a more comfortable margin over the pursuing Ferrari.
Grenier ultimately finished 0.922 seconds ahead of Schandorff in second, completing 109 laps in a mostly clean and orderly race. Only one other notable incident came when Brayton Williams spun the #9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG at the Carousel (turn seven) but that incident didn’t even bring out another Safety Car.
Rounding off the overall top three, and taking the Pro-Am class win, was the #32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kyle Washington and Tom Sargent. It was Sargent who had a starring role in today’s race: His blistering pace helped GMG drive to a comfortable class win over the #31 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Dave Musial Jnr and Ryan Yardley in fourth.
In fact, the young Australian took the chequered flag only 5.5 seconds behind the overall winner – and over 30 seconds clear of Yardley, despite the reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion’s best efforts to keep pace.
The #27 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG (Jason Daskalos/Lorcan Hanafin) started third overall but lost its chance at a Pro-Am win after stacking pit lane penalties; a drive-through for a short pit stop, and then a 30-second stop-and-go for speeding in the pits. Daskalos and Hanifin would finish 14th.
Then the #28 RS1 Porsche (JP Martinez/Jan Heylen) took the Pro-Am class lead, but on its penultimate pit stop, the engine was left on while the car was being refuelled, resulting in a 30-second time penalty on his final pit stop that spoiled a good on-track battle between Heylen and the pursuing Sargent.
In the last hour, the #6 Dollahite Ford of Lawrence and the #29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Robby Foley were locked in a battle for fifth overall (and third in Pro). Foley kept up the pressure, but Lawrence was able to hold onto fifth, just three-tenths ahead of Foley and Justin Rothberg, who were sixth overall in their Pro debut.
Porsches locked out the top six in the Pro-Am class and completed the top ten overall, even after pre-race Balance of Performance nerfs to the 911 GT3 Rs and the Mercedes-AMGs.
The #28 RS1 Porsche finished seventh and completed the class podium, followed by the #13 Kellymoss Porsche (Todd Parriott/Riley Dickinson), the #242 Wright Porsche (Therese Lahlouh/Thomas Merrill), and the #017 Kellymoss Porsche (Michael Clark/Colin Braun).
DeBoer and Hampus Ericsson finished 11th in the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW, after Ericsson lost two places late on due to contact with Merrill in a battle for ninth that allowed Merrill and Braun to get past him with about 15 minutes to go.
The race’s only Am class entrant, the #163 AF Corse Ferrari (Jay Schreibman/Oswaldo Negri Jnr) finished 16th overall, eight laps down from the Pro-Am leaders.
Round two of the 2026 GT World Challenge America season takes place on 26 April at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group
