Tag: Sonoma

Newcomer and Northern California native Kyle Loh earned his first win of the TC America TCX season in the No. 73 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type-R at Sonoma Raceway. Loh had nothing but clean air for the entirety of his race. What started as a 2s lead ended as a 15s lead over second-place finisher Lucas Catania.

Catania took the No. 26 Rigid Speed Company BMW M2 CS to a second second-place finish at. He spent much of his race alone, maneuvering lapped traffic when finding cars around him and leading a string of fellow BMW race cars on track.

In third was the No. 44 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M2 of Colin Garrett. Garrett fought tooth and nail for his spot-on podium after starting fourth, swapping spots with the No. 14 AOA Racing BMW M2 of Kenny Schmied. Through the race, Garrett took over third and solidified his dominance as battles continued behind him, creating a gap to the rest of the field.

TC Class

Jeff Ricca and his No. 78 Genracer/Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N won race two, finishing the race a solid 12s above second-place finisher Clayton Williams in the No. 60 MINI JCW Team Mini JCW. Williams also firmly kept Michael Hurczyn in the No. 8 VGRT Honda Civic Type-R behind him from green to checkered.

Ricca earned two first-place finishes and Williams, two second-place finishes. It was Hurczyn’s first podium finish of 2023.

TCA Class

The TC Class couldn’t shake each other the entire race. Devin Anderson in the No. 22 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ took home a second win in the class, while Spencer Bucknum and the No. 5 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si finished 1.573s behind. Each driver took steady turns to keep on track for their respective podium spots.

The fight for the third put on a show throughout the 40-minute sprint. The No. 23 TechSports Racing Subaru BRZ of Shaoyi Che had the No. 62 MINI JCW Team Mini JCW of P.J. Groenke ran all over each other throughout. While positions were swapped multiple times, Che came out taking third place in race one and race two.

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TC America powered by Skip Barber joins SRO Motorsports America at NOLA Motorsports Park outside New Orleans, Louisiana with practice starting on Friday, April 28 and ending with race day Sunday, April 30.

Daniel Morad is sleeping easier at night knowing that he’s found stability in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America paddock with the family-run TR3 Racing operation. After years of one-off drives, part-time schedules, and emergency substitute work, the Canadian’s excitement for his 2023 racing year was palpable.

“Having a consistent ride is definitely something that makes me sleep easy at night,” Morad said. “It’s been difficult the last few, driving in a program that you never know if you’re going to show up at the track the following event. Having the job security and knowing that I have one job — go in the car, go fast, and don’t crash. That’s essentially my job.

“In the last few months, it’s been all positives, coming off that win in Indianapolis and performance in Daytona. Every time going in the car, it’s been getting better and better. The more I’m driving, the better I’m getting,” Morad said.

He and teammate Ziad Ghandour finished second overall in race two of the weekend at Sonoma Raceway in their No. 9 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Morad was the only driver who could stay within the same zip code of Colin Braun as the duo opened up a nearly 30s lead on third-place John Edwards in the first half of Sunday’s race.

“I’m super proud of the guys. They switched from a mid-engine car to a front-engine car. With essentially one day of testing with myself and the team, we’ve been able to transform the platform from average to top-tier and fighting against the top teams in the field, so I’m proud of that.

“TR3 has been fantastic — really nice atmosphere, family team. It’s just been all positives and I’m looking forward to the season and driving more,” he added.

Strong pace from Colin Braun and George Kurtz in the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 overcame a clever strategy call from TR3 Racing to win the second race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

Braun started the race from pole and quickly built a strong gap over Daniel Morad who started the No. 9 TR3 Mercedes-AMG GT3. By the time the pit window opened, Braun had a 5s lead on Morad and a 31s lead on John Edwards who was running third. Critically, TR3 Racing elected to wait until the final moments of the ten-minute pit stop window to call Morad in.

The team’s overcut strategy worked to perfection as Ziad Ghandour inherited the car from Morad and the lead of the race from the No. 04 Mercedes. That left Kurtz to reel in Ghandour and move the No. 04 Mercedes back into the overall lead of the race with a pass under braking into Turn 9a. Like Braun, Kurtz opened up a comfortable lead and crossed the line 8.925s ahead of the No. 9 Mercedes.

A pair of Wright Motorsports entries, the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3-R and the No. 45 Porsche GT3 R 992 rounded out the top four overall and the top four in Pro-Am.

The Pro class honors went the way of the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 of Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher. The story of the team’s race was far more eventful than a traditional pole-to-race-win conversion would normally be. Harrison charged through to the lead before losing it on the final lap and then completing a Hail Mary, last corner move to secure the team’s first Pro class win.

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The drama for Racers Edge started when Farnbacher was spun out of the lead of the class by Spencer Pumpelly in Turn 11 in the first half of the race. Pumpelly tried to dive to the inside of Farnbacher but the move came too late, sending Farnbacher backward and leaving the Acura to drop to fourth in class. Pumpelly was given a drive-thru penalty for the move.

Racers Edge used an overcut strategy, similar to the one deployed by the No. 9 Mercedes, to move back into third place in class by the time Harrison got out on track. Harrison then made quick work of Manny Franco in the No. 21 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and Seth Lucas in the No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche GT3 R 992 to put the red Acura back on top of the Pro class.

Franco, however, was not done as he dove to the inside of Harrison on the final lap at the double-apex Turn 7, snatching the lead of the race. Harrison stayed close enough to the rear of the Ferrari through Turn 9a and lunged to the inside of Franco at Turn 11, regaining the lead and completing a thrilling last-lap battle.

Despite coming up short, Conquest Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3 showed much better pace today after some pre-race balance of performance adjustments to the new Italian GT machine. Franco and Alessandro Balzan improved from a fifth-place finish in class Saturday to the second step of the Pro podium Sunday.

Lucas and Trenton Estep rounded out the Pro podium and finished eighth overall.

There was only one retirement in the race — the No. 91 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. A mechanical issue ended the team’s day. The No. 91 Mercedes failed to finish both races this weekend after Jeff Burton’s crash in race one and the mechanical failure in race two. There were no safety cars or major incidents.

When you win eleven out of fourteen races in a support series, you might be good enough to compete at the next level. That’s just what Eric Filgueiras and RS1 proved in the opening round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America season.

After dominating the GT4 America championship last season, Filgueiras, RS1, and co-driver Steven MacAleer decided to embark on a GTWCA campaign. The result of the team and Filgueiras’ first qualifying session with its new car? Pole. The result of Filgueiras’ first stint in a GT3 car? A nearly 10s lead. The result of the team’s first race? A convincing win.

“Incredible, incredible,” Filgueiras told RACER. “For this type of debut three days ago, I don’t think we would have seen ourselves in this position. The team, myself, Steven, we’re so green with this car. Porsche puts such a great together but we’re still getting there, we’re still developing it, and we’ve had such little time with it.

“The guys have worked so hard, Porsche has given us really great support, feedback, and guidance with the car as well and then it was just managing the race,” Filgueiras added.

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MacAleer inherited a 9s advantage and despite the field chewing away that gap to just 1.538s, he was not concerned. With such a comfortable lead, MacAleer turned the traction control up to help the tire wear and simply guided the car home.

“I had I think an 8.5s or 9s lead and, in all honesty, I was quite happy to manage the tires,” the Scotsman said. “I turned the traction control up and tried to look after the car. They keep reading me the gap, ‘half-second, two-tenths, four-tenths, six-tenths.’ I know this game though; I’ve been at it a long time. Yes, there were three cars catching me, but it would’ve taken something special to get around me.”

The team will test at NOLA Motorsports Park ahead of the third and fourth rounds of the season at the Louisiana venue. That test will be focused on improving long-run pace, which MacAleer cited as one area that the team could be better, as well as increasing the team’s general familiarity with the tuning of the new Porsche GT3 R 992.

Eric Filgueiras built a lead and Steven McAleer protected it as the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 dominated the first race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America season from Sonoma Raceway. With just one safety car in the first ten minutes of the race, Filgueiras took advantage of the clean air his pole position awarded him to build a 9s margin once he handed the controls to McAleer.

Despite Elliott Skeer’s efforts in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3, he was unable to reel in McAleer in the second half of the race, leaving Skeer and Adam Adelson to settle for second overall but a victory in Pro-Am. Skeer crossed the line 1.538s behind McAleer.

The No. 120 Porsche briefly lost control of second overall in the pit stop cycle when Bill Auberlen in the No. 94 BMW M4 GT3 passed them in the slow lane, a violation of the rules. Auberlen was required to give the position back to Skeer. Apart from that, the pair of Porsche 911s from RS1 and Wright Motorsports locked out the top two spots from start to finish.

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Colin Braun in the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 had a strong stint that saw him climb into the top five before eventually moving onto the overall podium after passing Auberlen into Turn 11. The No. 04 Mercedes was second in Pro-Am.

The No. 16 ACI Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 was fourth overall and rounded out the Pro-Am podium thanks to a strong drive from Spencer Pumpelly in the second half of the race that included a confident move on the brakes to the inside of Auberlen in the final five minutes.

Auberlen and Chandler Hull settled for fifth overall and second in Pro.

The No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 was the final car on the Pro podium and finished sixth overall. Ashton Harrison started the car and moved up seven spots by the time she handed the car to Mario Farnbacher.

There were two retirements in the race — first, the No. 91 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 which caused the race’s sole full course yellow after Jeff Burton spun at Turn 2 and hit the tire barrier; the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3, meanwhile, ran into mechanical issues in the final twenty minutes of the race.

The three TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School classes, TCX, TC and TCA, crowned the first winners of 2023 at Sonoma Raceway. A 40-minute first race was relatively drama-free and featured close racing from class to class. Clouds moved into the Sonoma valley lowering temperatures and giving drivers and teams perfect conditions to push on their Pirelli Tires.

TCX

Pole sitter and drift champion Dai Yoshihara of Japan was the only victim in race one. An unknown issue ended Yoshihara’s race early and took him out of the lead. Colin Garrett of Rooster Hall Racing in the No. 44 BMW M2 CS took over the lead and never let go. He didn’t run away with the race as the No. 26 Rigid Speed Company of Lucas Catania BMW M2 CS was in Garrett’s rearview mirror the entirety of the race. Kyle Loh in his No. 73 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCX, dropped a position to finish third.

TC

Jeff Ricca had full control of the day. He began race one on the pole and ran away with the race taking home the win in his No. 78 Genracer/Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TC. Clayton Williams battled forward for position as he maneuvered through traffic in the No. 60 MINI JCW Team Mini JCW Pro TC. Williams had to look both ahead and behind as he fought off Cristian Perocarpi in the No. 37 MINI JCW Team Mini JCW Pro TC. Perocarpi began the race sixth, advancing the three positions to find a podium finish.

TCA

The TCA Class finish mimicked that of the qualifying field. Devin Anderson’s No. 22 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ had complete control of the race going green to checkered out front. Following Anderson across the finish line was Spencer Bucknum in the No. 5 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si FE1, who split the two TechSport entries. Shaoyi Che in the No. 23 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ started and finished third. The TechSport team starts the season with a solid points lead in the team championship.

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Race two will be at 9:55 a.m. Sunday, April 2 and closes out the GT Sonoma protected by Crowdstrike weekend.

RESULTS

Eric Filgueiras, in his GT3 debut, put the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3-R on pole position for race one of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America weekend at Sonoma with a time of 1m37.026s as the checkered flag flew.

A nearly eight-minute red flag caused by the No. 43 RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG left just four minutes on the clock for teams to set a time. Those that got out early enough had the opportunity to set two laps, Filguerias being one.

Adam Adelson in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R was second with a time of 1m37.695s. Chandler Hull in the No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 was third with a 1m38.354s.

The battle for track position for the final laps of the session between Ashton Harrison and Hull cost both of them an opportunity to potentially set a quicker time. Hull was behind Harrison when they emerged from the pits and the pair were side-by-side through Turns 9a, 11, and 1 on the following lap.

Meanwhile, in the second qualifying session — which set the grid for Sunday’s race — John Edwards placed the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 on pole position. Edwards’ lap was a 1m35.237s, some three-tenths quicker than the next best car.

Colin Braun had a small spin at Turn 2 but continued without further incident and was able to set a time of 1m37.592s, good enough for second on the grid. Daniel Morad was third in the No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a time of 1m37.814s.

Besides Braun’s spin, there were no major incidents in the second session.

Race one of the GTWCA weekend is set to go green at 6:05pm ET.

Crowdstrike by Riley, with their No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT3, was quickest in the second free practice session of the GT World Challenge America weekend at Sonoma Raceway with a time of 1m36.853s as Mercedes showed its speed under overcast skies. The No. 08 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 was second quickest with a 1m36.960s.

The story lies in the gap to third, as the pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3s were able to run 0.512s faster than the No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 which was followed by a pair of Porsches with the No. 16 ACI Motorsports and No. 120 Wright Motorsports entries rounding out the top five.

A slow start for the new Ferrari 296 GT3s has continued. After finishing the first practice in 12th and 13th, Conquest Racing and Triarsi Racing are still searching for pace in the new Italian machine. The No. 21 Conquest Ferrari found some, ending the second session in eighth but the No. 33 Triarsi Ferrari was unable to improve from the morning session, finishing in sixteenth.

GMG Racing’s No. 14 Audi R8 LMS GT3 was the only car to not turn a lap. It was seen in the garage with its left rear partially disassembled, but without any active work being done.