The GT World Challenge America began its season at Sonoma Raceway over the course of 3 days between March 28-30 bringing heart-pounding racing to the iconic Bay Area track.
The GT World Challenge America event is a series of races with a wide range of driver classes, manufacturers, and of course, race cars. The GT World Challenge America is managed and governed by SRO Motorsports alongside other regional GT World Championship series in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
The races that took place over the weekend included TC America, McLaren Trophy, TGRNA GR Cup North America, Pirelli GT4 America, GT America, and GT World Challenge America. Each of these races fall under their own unique series under the SRO banner, and each has its own practice, qualifying, and final race sessions.
Keen observers may notice the repeated use of “GT” in this article, so for the uninitiated, let me explain. A Grand Touring (GT) car, from the Italian “Gran Turismo”, is a track-only vehicle based on a road-going, homologated production car. This could range from an exotic McLaren 720 to a commonly seen Ford Mustang. GT itself has multiple classes, ranging from the slower, less powerful GT4s to much more powerful GT2s. As a general rule, the GT cars and drivers generally get better the lower the number; however, GT3 is by far the most prevalent class in the highest racing series worldwide, so GT3 drivers are generally the most elite of the group.
The price of basic admission to a race day (Saturday or Sunday) was $30 and includes parking and open paddock access, allowing you to roam around to your heart’s content. Friday general admission passes were only $15 as the day only included one race and mainly for practicing and getting drivers acclimated to the track and cars. Since this is a 3 day event, camping passes or weekend general admission passes were also available to purchase.
Luckily, the day I attended, Saturday, brought a reprieve from the torrential downpours that had occurred across the Bay Area the previous few days. Sonoma Raceway was blessed with a blue sky, a mid-60s temperature, and lush, verdant green grass on the surrounding hillside. The infamous Sonoma Raceway sheep herd was also out in full force, making themselves known with loud intermittent bleats on the hillside overlooking the track.
The paddock provides an open space to socialize and explore, where you’re able to get an up close view on teams working on their cars in either tents or the garages, peruse a variety of food trucks, get free merch from one of the various advertising booths, shop at the official track store, participate in driver autograph sessions, and watch podium ceremonies for the top three finishing drivers for each race.
The first race of the day was The TC America series. Touring Cars (TC) are a class of race cars that are based on road-going production cars, and look and generally perform more similarly to the cars they’re based on than GT cars do to their production car bases. Although Touring Cars are usually among the slower cars participating on race day, this often translates to closer wheel-to-wheel racing.
The race, which was the first race of this season, is a 25 minute timed race which means after the 25 minute mark, no new laps can start. After 14 laps, Jeff Ricca in his Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO emerged victorious over the rest of the eight car field, the smallest group of the day. The condensed field is partially due Mazda and BMW not being ready for this race, but nonetheless Hyundais swept the podium taking first, second, and third place over Toyotas and an Acura.
The second race of the day was the McLaren Trophy America series, an all new one-make series that means all cars have identical specifications, which sees three classes of drivers (Pro, Pro-Am and Amateur), pitted against each other in a purely skill-based matchup over the course of 10 races. The brand new race also features a brand new car, called the McLaren Artura Trophy Evo. Based on the company’s first V6 powered road car the Artura, The Evo is an improvement on the original Artura Trophy, a track-only hardcore race car. New improvements include enhanced aerodynamics and wider tires, which improve grip and cornering speeds, and a new push to pass system that allows the driver to temporarily increase power in order to overtake other cars under certain conditions.
The race itself, a 50 minute sprint with 15 entrants, was ripe for aggressive driving, and this proved to be true as on lap six car number 74 passed car #14 to advance from second to third place (P3 to P2). Approximately 30 seconds later, car #43 running in sixth place was forced to retire due to mechanical failure bringing on a full course yellow flag. The yellow flag also brings with it a safety car which limits the cars speed and prevents cars from passing each other while also condensing the field, forcing cars to close distance on each other. Finally, with about 34 minutes left, the yellow flag was lifted and full-fledged racing was resumed.
Car #74 almost immediately passed car #4 to gain P1, which it held onto until the 13th lap, where the mandatory pit stop and driver change occurred. By rule, all cars with multiple drivers must switch within a certain time frame designated for their class, but usually around the halfway mark of the race. After multiple position changes due to different cars pitting, as the checkered flag waved, it was car #4 finishing in pole position (P1) where they originally started. Thus ended the first ever McLaren Trophy America race and a solid 50 minutes of racing.
The following race was the GT America, ( not to be confused with GT World Challenge America) which featured two classes of cars: SRO3, which features a mixture of newer and older GT3 cars that aren’t up to current homologation standards, and GT4 cars. The race is a single driver 40 minute sprint with cars from manufacturers including Chevrolet, Audi, BMW, Porsche, and more. With 14 total entries between SRO3 and GT4 the race had a packed grid and was prime for wheel-to-wheel racing.
The race started under a yellow flag as Chevy Corvette car #50 stalled out in the middle of the track on the formation lap, but as the clock ticked down from 40 minutes, the car started back up and the green flag finally waved, so racing commenced with 34:25 left. Having to start behind the GT4 cars at the back of the race, the Corvette quickly climbed its way up the pack to the faster SRO3 cars, but no further than that. After a relatively uneventful race in terms of position changes, the overall winner #04 Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by SRO veteran George Kurtz dominated the rest of the field never leaving P1, finishing more than 15 seconds ahead of the runner-up BMW M4 GT3. To put into perspective how massive a win this was, all of the other cars in the SRO3 class( P2 through P6 excluding the stalled Corvette at the start) finished within four seconds of each other.
Following GT America, came the Toyota Gazoo Racing North America (TGRNA) GR Cup. While the name itself is a handful, so is the racing. The TGRNA GR Cup is widely known as a feeder series, ripe with Amateur-rated drivers who are looking to advance their careers in motorsports. The GR Cup is a one-make series driving the Toyota GR86, a low-power lightweight sports car similar to the road-going version but modified with racing paraphernalia. The race is a 45-minute timed sprint and had a packed grid of 31 participating cars.
This race is known for action-packed competition, not only because of how tightly condensed the field is, but also due to the presence of beginner-level drivers, including three who are only 14 years old and one who is 15. The race definitely lived up to its’ reputation as multiple cars missed turn points, either under or over-steering out of turns kicking up grass and dirt over multiple points on the track. On Lap 4, car #41 spun out of control into the tire barriers and brought out the Safety Car and a full-course yellow flag.
Throughout the entirety of the race, there were multiple spin-outs, a ton of contact between cars, and multiple time penalties for irresponsible driving. This was in my opinion, by far the most entertaining race of the day, and at the end of this absolute battle was car #46 ending up P1 after overtaking car #13 with only one minute and 15 seconds left on the clock.
After the GR Cup race ended, the main event and namesake race, The GT World Challenge America was ready to begin. This race is open to the fastest cars of the event, GT3s and features a mix of drivers from 3 ranks, PRO, PRO-AM, and one AM only team. The race is 90 minutes long and is a 2 driver per car race, with a designated period where a car must pull into the pit lane and swap drivers with an 85 second minimum stop.
Following the formation lap, the cars got up to speed, the safety car dove into the pit lane and the race was started. The leader BMW M4 GT3 car #99 who started out in pole position was finally passed on lap 12 by P2 Mercedes AMG GT3 car #91 in an aggressive yet perfectly executed overtake. After the driver swap time zone expired and all cars took their pit stops, It was the #34 Mercedes AMG GT3 out in front leading the pack. Because of a botched pit stop by the original pole sitter car #99, they were fighting for P2 with car #91 until they finally passed with 37:50 left in the race.
As the clock ran down to the wire and the pack eventually spread apart, it was the #34 Mercedes that came home with victory a mere .638 seconds ahead of P2 car #99 who themselves were 34.397 seconds ahead of P3 and three full laps ahead of the last place finisher. This race was one of the cleanest races of the day, which should be expected as these are the most professional racers of the group, but the driver skill gap between the PRO and AM classes was apparent, which allowed for a lot of overtakes.
The final race of the day was the Pirelli GT4 America race. This is another diverse race with manufacturers ranging from Toyota to Porsche to Aston Martin, and like the race before it, includes a mix of both professional and amateur drivers. Each race is 60 minutes with a designated driver switch and is open to the GT4 class of race cars.
Starting the race on pole position, (P1) was the #71 Toyota Supra GT4 in the lead of a packed grid of 29 cars. After a clean formation lap to get the cars up to speed, the safety cars ducked into the pit lanes and the green flag waved and the race commenced. Unfortunately, on the first lap with 56 minutes left in the race, there was a collision at the back of the pack leaving debris strewn across the track and leaving multiple cars damaged, inevitably bringing a yellow flag and the return of the safety car. After almost 30 minutes of driving under yellow, the race finally returned to full-tilt action and the first lead change of the race as the leader #71 car followed the safety car into pit lane.
After an action packed race (well the half of the race that wasn’t under a full-course yellow), it was the #52 Bmw M4 GT4 that started the race in P8 that ended up triumphant over the remaining field of 22 of the original 29 cars originally running. This race much like the preceding GR Cup race, in my opinion really showed the allure and charm of what motorsports can bring, a massive group of people driving on a razor’s edge, where a thousandth of a second in an hour-long race can make the difference between glory or soul-crushing defeat.
After a long day of great racing, food, and exploration between the multiple attractions the paddock had to offer, the sun finally began to set over the scenic Sonoma Raceway and the first races of the SRO GT World Challenge America season.
