Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the wine country of northern California, and Sonoma Raceway. This is round two of the SRO America season for 2022 and the first day of racing on Saturday, is kicking off with the first of two races for GT America. This is the format we originally saw back in the old Pirelli World Challenge days, 40 minutes, single driver per car, old school sprint racing. So, we are 3,000 miles west of where we started in St. Petersburg, Florida, last month. We join Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the booth and Amanda Busick in the pit lane. We had a couple different winners last time out at St. Petersburg, Florida.
Sonoma, is a challenging course. We are ready to go after rain that we saw this morning. Front row of the grid sees Jason Daskalos on the pole in his "vintage" Audi R8. We have the two blokes who won races in St. Petersburg across the front row as Daskalos is joined by the Mercedes AMG GT3 of George Kurtz. A second row lockout for Zelus Motorsports. Watch out for Jeff Burton and Jason Harward in the two Lamborghini Huracan's. They are going to be ones to keep your eyes peeled for as well. 12 turns, four kilometers, around two and a half miles. This track is very fast with loads of elevation change, uphill, down dale, and through the famous Carousel. We have a 28 car grid today. Again, Jason Daskalos and George Kurtz were the winners last time out. This is going to be a split grid. GT3 going first and GT4 after.
Bryan Putt, he is the GT4 pole man. Putt was heard, after staying on slicks, panicking over team radio, "I don't like this! Get me off these tires!' But no matter, it has worked in his favor. Putt at the wheel of the #15 BSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Putt on pole over Marco Radisic by more than half a second. Radisic driving the first of the two SRQ Motorsports BMW M4 GT4's, is the Serbian, teamed up with American driver Rick Uhler in the sister car. Be brave. Just go for it and hang on. SRO3 is GT3 spec but with a slightly different Balance of Performance.
Hang on a second, ladies and gentlemen. As we roll through the grid, a car has spun off on the wet grass and kissed the tire barrier. Car #89, Custodio Toledo from Brazil in the second of the RENNtech AMG GT4's teamed with Chris Gumprecht in the sister car #79. Deary me. More spinning. This is Jeff Burton who has spun the Lamborghini on another damp spot. Cold Pirelli tires on a wet surface is a recipe for calamity. If drivers spin off the road on the recon lap, they can maintain their original grid spot. They have to get there before turn seven on the lap leading to the green flag dropping. There's a lot of mud, so if you slide off you may be stuck.
You just sail off the road, lose the camber, and perhaps crunch into the barriers. We will be closely watching the original Callaway C7 Corvette in this series, Mirko Schultis of Germany at the wheel of it, for Mishumotors. The Callaway Corvette GT3R. This Callaway Corvette is a beast. It thunders with raw horsepower. No turbos, none of the modern technology you are used to seeing a GT3 or GT4 car have. This motorcar is a pure muscle car. After his spin, Jeff Burton radios the team at Zelus Motorsport to tell them how the car is handling.
The GT4 cars don't have the power or the driver aids of the GT3 machines, but they are still thoroughbred racer's nonetheless. Trouble in paradise for Marco Radisic. He looks to be pulling to the side of the road. It could be an electronics reset, for the St. Petersburg GT4 winner last time out. Water and electronics don't mix. Jeff Burton will have to start caboose on the grid in GT3 and we'll see if #22, Radisic, is good to go, the Serbian driver. Bryan Putt will have Rob Holland chasing him down. He is in the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Those cars are now fully homologated. We see the American debut of the car that ran so well in Imola, Italy, weeks ago.
Marco Radisic, the Serbian driver, he has a misfire on the car and here coming to the pit lane is the #39 entry, the Cameron Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 in the hands of Chris Cagnazzi. Cagnazzi is actually starting from the lane because of emergency service, moving over from RENNtech. The first lap has been waved off but the clock has started. So, the field circulates behind the safety car. We see the #120 car of Adam Adelson, the Premier Racing older spec version of the Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. A couple of these cars are in GT America and Pirelli GT4 America that we will see later today in their own race.
SRO has given teams a drop in points running the new Cayman Porsche's because of the homologation coming later. For us it will be a bugaboo to calculate the points. Now, why on earth is George Kurtz pulling alongside Jason Daskalos before they go for the flag? That's interesting. No matter, we are ready for the green flag. It's go time here at Sonoma! Daskalos takes the lead and Kurtz will slide in heind. Single file thus far as the cars stream up the hill and back down through the Carousel. Deary me. A couple of GT4 machines have slithered off the road. We have at least two Toyota Supra's have done a tandem pirouette, not unlike an incident we saw yesterday in the Euro Le Mans race at Paul Ricard.
Nick Shanny in the Supra and a BMW have spun. One of the M4's was off the road. No contact. Jason Daskalos is gapping George Kurtz by a second and has the hammer down. Daskalos can deal with an evil handling race car in these slick conditions. Kurtz has confidence with Crowdstrike Racing and Riley Motorsports. Colin Braun, his team mate in GT World Challenge America. He swept the weekend here in 2021. Jason Harward in third. He debuted here at Sonoma a year ago. Maximum speed through turn two. 145 miles an hour is the top speed for GT3. Marco Radisic has a misfire on his BMW. Game over. Jason Bell, reigning GT4 champ as Gray Newell right on his six.
This is a head-to-head scrap between two Aston Martin Vantage GT4's. Another Aston Martin scrum here, look, as Jason Bell is right on the tailpipes of Ross Chouest. Bell has gone past Hutton McKenna as well as Robb Holland leads Adam Adelson too in a couple of Porsche Cayman's. The McKenna Porsche dealer name is back in sports car racing after a hiatus. They ran in most legendary fashion years ago with Alex Job Racing. Adam Adelson is in the lane for an unscheduled stop and the class polesitter in GT4 has dropped like a stone to ninth place.
Bryan Putt will have to climb the ladder again. Moisey Uretsky in the lane too aboard one of the Toyota Supra's. That is the #55 entry, the second car for TGR Accelerating Performance. He is in the sister car to Nick Shanny. Bryan Putt on the chase and off turn four he is going to pass the Supra of Jose DaSilva, the #67 car for TGR Smooge Racing. Ross Chouest has Jason Bell right alongside in the battle of Aston Martin's. Who is going to blink first? To the hairpin they go and Bell wisely gives it up into the apex of the turn. Bell is a very improved racer. He wouldn't have backed down a couple years ago, but now, he is more patient.
Chouest and Bell have now caught Robb Holland in the lead in the Porsche Cayman. Holland was supposed to have two cars for GT America and GT4 America. They have to run one car in both of the races today and tomorrow as Hutton McKenna is pressing hard as well. Now then, Jason Harward wants by George Kurtz with only ten minutes on the board. Harward is giving Kurtz all he can handle. He wants to chase Daskalos for the lead through the chicane at turn nine. Down the back straight to turn 11, the final corner. Watch the stream across the road under braking.
Kurtz running wide through turn two while Harward dives deep and goes up the hill and back down. Jason has his hands full in the Lamborghini, arms and elbows out. Harward dives inside Kurtz and makes the move stick. Bish, bash, bosh, Jason Harward and Zelus Motorsports to second spot like a hot knife through butter. Kurtz peeks to the inside, no dice. Now, Jason Daskalos will feel the heat. It is the Jason and Jason show here ladies and gentlemen. Under braking the Lamborghini si right on Daskalos' six Into turn 11 and through the puddle. That puddle is not a factor really. Daskalos on the dry line into the braking zone.
Harward now uncorks a 1:41.6 for fastest lap. GT4 is getting spicy. Robb Holland has Ross Chouest breathing down his neck. Jason Bell lurking in third place. Hutton McKenna in the Porsche has now made the pass on Gray Newell. Newell will have to bide his time for the moment. Hutton McKenna has been racing in Porsche Carrera Cup as of late and is dovetailing this SRO GT4 program with the Porsche Cup in 2022. Jan Heylen and Patrick Long are two of the veteran drivers assisting the team. Rick Uhler in the sister BMW M4 GT4 for SRQ Motorsports is now in a spot of bother. He is the team mate to Marko Radisic. Porsche holding off Aston Martin's. The Aston's, the meat in a Porsche sandwich.
Harward is catching both Kurtz and Daskalos hand over fist. 26 minutes to go and these chaps are going to be in the thick of GT4 traffic in a wee while. As Daskalos tries containing the gap, Harward ays, "I've had enough" and is going to go for the pass. Hardward's impatience is his undoing as he spikes the brakes and goes in hot. Lucky boy there, Harward, slamming the door in George Kurtz's face. We have a local yellow on course for a spin as we are about to look at overall trap speeds. Let's pick the bones out of this yellow flag situation first. Bryan Putt, the GT4 polesitter in the B Sport Aston Martin has come a cropper. Now, the speed traps see Kurtz fastest at 137.3 miles an hour followed by Harward at 136 dead, Daskalos at 135.4, Burton at 134.2, and Kyle Washington at 132.9. Washington at the wheel of the #032 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. He is the team mate to Jason Bell as GMG are racing two different cars in this championship.
The rest of the track under green. Kurtz is the shark and Daskalos and Harward are now the minnows. Putt and Newell have to be continuing to slice and dice in GT4 as well. We can see the Mercedes might just have a tad more speed than the Benz. Hutton McKenna goes deep into the chicane wriggling around and Gray Newell now on his doorstep and makes the move on Hutton McKenna. Newell is going to be receiving good notes from his team mate Ian James. Longtime tuner Steve Dinan in the #930 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 Evo is also entering the picture. We have seen this team in a few different championships over the years and now they are making their mark in SRO GT America just as well as the IMSA series.
Dinan a legendary name in BMW circles as a tuner and a driver but he has been running the CarBahn team with Audi in a number of championships in the last few years. Dinan is now back into the aftermarket parts business, basing it out of Denver, Colorado. Back to the lead scrap and Chouest is going to do everything he can to pass by Rob Holland for eighth place. Holland forces him the long way 'round the turn. Chouest sees the hole and pokes his way through. Bell and Newell now want a bite of the cherry too. Whoops! We have a spin and it's another Aston. It is Elias Sabo in the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports car, the 5.11 Tactical car.
Jason Bell is reeling in Rob Holland and in the meantime, we are still telling the Gray Newell vs. Hutton McKenna story. Sensational racing here indeed. Meanwhile, at the top of the shop, Kurtz has passed Harward. GT4 traffic and Daskalos takes a bucking bronco ride across the curb and into the grass, rodeo style! That was messy. That was nearly a pig's breakfast there. Man oh man. Damage to the front of the Mercedes, missing the three pointed star emblem and that shark has had most of it's teeth taken out. A shark's visit to the dentist. Boy oh boy. Things could go pear shaped for Kurtz here in a wee while.
Daskalos Racing sees that and must be grinning from ear to ear but there will be grimaces on the faces of the Riley Motorsports camp. Daskalos, he could very well make good his escape as Kurtz still has the Lambo of Harward to deal with. GT4 meanwjhile sees Holland stuck on the inside and Jason Bell right alongside him, and there, look, is Gray Newell, waiting and watching for these two to make a mistake. Ross Chouest has turned on the afterburners and moved away from these four. Oh! Newell dives late on Bell on the inside and you knew right then that move was just not on. That was super late and Bell, tipped into a spin, got the worst of it.
The stewards will be poring over that with a fine tooth comb. In replay, Newell commits, but slams into the puddle, and tips Bell sideways. Hutton McKenna has to rallycross his way over the grass. Bell has dropped like a stone and is now chasing Dinan. Kurtz slices his way past GT4 traffic and by a razor's edge avoids crashing into two cars! There was no more room between him and an Aston Martin than a cigarette paper. Kurtz's world was shrinking there as he made his way precariously past Sean Whalen in the #888 Aston Martin, the sister Zelus entry. Criminy! That was close! Daskalos as we said earlier, has made good his escape leaving Kurtz to fight and to fend off the challenge from Harward. The more things change, they stay the same.
Bryan Putt has gone to pit lane and the car is fine, but the team knows they must just throw this motor race in the bin and focus on tomorrow. Harward has gone back around Kurtz. Daskalos misjudges the corner and does a wee bit of rallycross. That's the same turn we have seen people caught out at all day. He'll have mud on his tires and be slithering around on the course with just 18 minutes remaining on the board before this race is done and dusted. The wolves are at the door. Daskalos being monstered by both Harward and Kurtz. He covers off the challenge and Daskalos holds the lead for now. Now, this is peculiar. Daskalos in the older Audi has damage to the rear diffuser of that automobile. Well, well, well.
We saw that rallycross excursion and maybe Jason Daskalos has had some argy bargy in another place on the circuit. The balance on that car will be compromised with less downforce. Harward has uncorked the Crowdstrike Fastest Lap at 1:41.653. Harward is giving it everything because no one else has even cracked the 1:42 barrier yet. Sean Whalen is off course. Maybe he can get back in the race. The tpp three in the overall separated by 3/4 of a second. Harward is right there. He is right on Daskalos' tail now. Full Course Yellow. What could this be for? Shawn Whalen is stranded on the circuit in the Aston and the marshals send a snatch vehicle to rescue him. Whalen plunging through turn four has nosed it into the tires. Hello, tires. Pleased to meet you. Not.
The good thing for Whalen is he might be able to escape this little kerfuffle with no damage. Yours truly agrees with SRO color commentator, Calvin Fish, that Harward is the chap with the pace, but he has to push the button and light the afterburners to reel in Daskalos. The biggest factor on the restart is the pickup on the tires. The clag, the marbles, the rolled up rubber that is on the outside of the circuit and sticks to the hot Pirelli P Zero's like glue. Bryan Putt wants fastest lap. If you are new to SRO racing, unlike a lot of other sports car championships, these boys and girls only have one qualifying session per race weekend and the fastest lap that is what sets the grid for the second race that we'll see tomorrow.
We have to state that the track surface here at Sonoma is old, it's abrasive. It's seen a boatload of racing over 30+ years. This circuit presents a lot of tire degradation. That is something that is harped on but is very important no matter the racing series, the track surface, the brand of tire... it's constant. Cooler weather here in northern California, means harder compound Pirelli tires and it is taking longer to bed them in and get them up to temperature. Some cars are kinder on their tires and some are more aggressive. So, the teams that have a more aggressive car will see more degradation because of the new compound for the Italian tires.
Ross Chouest started fifth in class and has gone to the front. Chouest won once last year. Before finding motor racing, Chouest was an athlete and a Louisian All State high school basketball player and played D1 basketball at Georgia Tech and Louisiana State University. His uncle, Laney Chouest founded NOLA Motorsports Park in New Orleans, Louisiana. A fascinating story indeed of Ross Chouest. Yours truly can dribble a basketball but can't shoot into the bucket to save my life. So, we'll leave the other stick and ball sports for now and focus on this motor race. Safety car lights still on but we are getting down to crunch time in this first race of the weekend.
The GT3 boys are going to have to a straight fight with no lapped traffic to futz over. Daskalos might have damage so he could very well adjust the antiroll bars on the suspension from inside the car. No doubt he has been on the radio to team boss Nick Short and discussed what tools he should use to improve the Audi's performance. Adjusting brake bias is advisable as well. Mirco Schultis is up to fourth. The Callaway Corvette, and Schultis, have been very patient through this race. Schultis is right on pace. The team and the program are coming on strong. Schultis has experience in GT cars but has not done it in a while. Schultis is from Gaermany and is a Chevrolet guy. He found a Chevrolet Tahoe with no roof to transport his bike around. Everything he has driven has been powered by Chevrolet including the old Le Mans Prototype Challenge open cockpit sports cars.
Schultis loves America and he used to race in Prototype Challenge with Renger van der Zande. It was a last minute deal but they are coming on strong. A 2014 Petit Le Mans winner and a champion in the old Le Mans Series in 2011 for Schultis. Mike Stillwagon at the wheel of the safety car is also a driver in the touring car class and we will see him racing later in the season. Adam Adelson pitted 15-20 minutes back, he was serving a penalty for changing tire pressure on the grid. Daskalos retired from race two in St. Petersburg after winning race one that weekend. He hopes to win again today. Does the Audi have a diffuser issue still? Daskalos will be under pressure for three maybe four laps with Harward and Kurtz. Ross Chouest, Rob Holland, and Gray Newell are your top three in GT4.
The field bunches up behind the leader now into the acceleration zone. Harward punches it early and gets alongside Daskalos. What will the stewards say about that? Maybe he self-corrected. Kurtz gets caught out and is off the pace. Harward had to back out. Does Kurtz have clag on his tires? Jeff Burton has passed Mirco Schultis. Jason Bell, more bother for him as he is in the dirt once more. Bell has clattered the tires. Well, he is back on the road it seems. He got the right-side tires in the mud and spun promoting Hutton McKenna to third. Big stack up in the chicane and the #124 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Chris Allegro is the cork in the bottle.
This is bonkers. Justin Wetherill is also in this fight aboard the #37 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3. That is the only Ferrari on the grid and is an Evo 2020 model. Jason Bell squeezes Hutton McKenna who is pressing his way through this field. McKenna, in the meantime, has passed Rob Holland. McKenna wants to get to Chouest but has a lapped car in the way. Time is nearly up, and McKenna wants by Custodio Toledo in the GT4 Mercedes. McKenna to the inside, makes it stick. We shall see Toledo racing later today in the Pirelli GT4 America event. Ross Chouest leading GT4 has put daylight between himself and the rest of the field.
Hutton McKenna, half a second slower than Ross Chouest. 1:54.9 for McKenna and 1:54.4 for Chouest. Drivers wondering how much grip they have left before the checkers. Holland hanging on to the probability of a podium spot. Ross Chouest in the Aston for Chouest Povoledo Racing is building the gap before this race is over. McKenna and Chouest, very evenly matched. Chouest leads GT4 with clear road ahead. He is a second and a half to the good over Hutton McKenna. Jason Daskalos will be on his final lap as George Kurtz moves to second and Jason Harward will run third more than likely. Daskalos is pushing hard over Kurtz who swept the weekend here at Sonoma in 2021.
Kurtz wants a hat trick here at Sonoma and is making his move. Daskalos, shallow entry into the turn protecting his line. Into the final turn, Kurtz will lay it on the line. Final turn, final lap. Daskalos defends. It's a drag race to the line! Kurtz gives chase. Not enough. Daskalos is your winner in race one here at Sonoma! Race two coming up tomorrow.
GT4 winner is, Ross Chouest! That was a fun race!
Overall/SRO 3: #27 Jason Daskalos Daskalos Motorsports Audi R8 LMS
GT4: #50 Ross Chouest Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4
Now, these results are provisional and may have to change because the stewards are reviewing the start of the race for the GT4 class. We have to see if someone jumped the start of the motor race. Chouest, McKenna, and Holland are all under review. Rob Holland dropped down. Steve Dinan could be someone who is still a contender. The first of two races now in the bag. Jason Harward has pole for tomorrow because of his 1:41.653 fastest lap. Harward starting his second season of pro racing and is a fast learner. He could rocket away from everyone tomorrow. We shall see. No GT2 entries in this race here at Sonoma today. Daskalos wins by one and a half tenths of a second. More racing to come today here at Sonoma. Stay tuned.
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