It’s Saturday morning at Sonoma Raceway, and overnight rain showers have washed away all the rubber laid down across yesterday’s track activities.
The surface was still damp by the time GT America qualifying commenced at 9:00 AM local time, but it is drying out rapidly and we should be in for a dry, sunny slate of racing this afternoon.
K-PAX Racing driver Giacomo Altoe (driver of the Pro-Am #3 car) commented: “Luckily, I did a test day with some wet conditions, and also the test day on Thursday was wet. At least we already know which direction to go with the setup, tyre pressure, and also the line and the braking points on track for us drivers. This is good to have some reference already.”
“Qualifying will most likely be in damp conditions, so I think we are ready to do it. We have the car to do some good results, so let’s hope to be there and push as much as possible!”
As a reminder, here’s where you can watch all of today’s action, live and free, from the SRO’s official YouTube channel:
GT World Challenge America Qualifying – 10:00 AM PDT
GT America Race 1 – 12:15 PM PDT
GT World Challenge America Race 1 (the main event) – 2:15 PM PDT
GT4 America Race 1 – 4:55 PM PDT
Here’s some brief stories from the paddock before GTWCA qualifying begins.
Jason Daskalos’ #27 Audi R8 LMS Ultra qualified on pole position for today’s race, setting a time of 1’46.121. The St. Petersburg Race 1 winner told us he was struggling to find the set-up of his car this weekend, but at least in this session, his first-gen Audi was quickest in the mixed conditions.
George Kurtz, winner of Race 2 in St. Pete, was second in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.
This is the first “full weekend” for Kurtz’ CrowdStrike Racing project in their new partnership with Riley Motorsports, and the CEO and co-founder of the CrowdStrike infosec company has been staking his claim to be the most well-rounded gentleman racer in the field.
Kurtz and Colin Braun will be ones to watch in GTWC America this weekend as they fight for Pro-Am Cup victory and overall podiums; they finished second in the Pro-Am Cup in 2020, only denied a championship due to withdrawing from the Circuit of the Americas round due to a family emergency.
Also, it’s all systems go for Racers Edge Motorsports after what was confirmed to be a battery/electrical issue on their #93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 – leaving them stranded and with course workers struggling to move their car when it was stuck in gear!
They’ve fixed the battery issue, all is good with the engine, drivetrain, and chassis – so Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher will be fighting for pole position in their respective races.
Feature image by RJ O’Connell; additional photos © Brian Cleary / SRO
