We are set to start the season, for the big boys and girls, and the big toys, as the GT3 cars of SRO Fanatec GT World Challenge America come out to play, for race one at the verdant Sonoma Raceway in the hills of the northern California wine country, as the sheep graze and keep this track manicured. This is set to be another highly competitive season of North American GT3 racing as part of the SRO GT3 portfolio that extends globally across at least four continents. GT World Challenge Europe are also opening the endurance part of their season in the south of France at Paul Ricard on this weekend, and we will have coverage of that race for you, very soon as well. On the pole for the first race of this doubleheader weekend, as all of them are in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, it is the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3R in the hands of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer.
It is time for today's main event, and after this one, we still have one more thrilling race for you with the season opener for Pirelli GT4 America in the first of their one-hour encounters here at Sonoma Raceway. So, please do stay tuned with us, this evening. It is a long day of racing at Sonoma today. So, grab dinner and a cup of coffee but after the races are over. I would say, if you want some coffee, grab it now. You are going to need it. A new season springs to life this weekend. We are 30 miles north across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It mirrors the winding path of Lombard Street. But, believe me, this is no trolley ride.
We have our buddies and colleagues in GT World Challenge Europe racing in the south of France at Paul Ricard tomorrow and you will hear more about that big race on the blog, oh, next week, when I have the opportunity to carve out time to tell you all the story of what happened. So, we are ready for the best GT3 racing on the planet. We welcome Andy Lee and Elias Sabo, as well as Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo, stepping up from the GT4 series, and we have many, many more contenders that we will be telling you about over the course of the next hour and a half of motor racing. The long wait is over and the lid lifter of the 2024 season is at hand as we join Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the commentary box and Amanda Busick in the pit lane.
We have a beautiful day for motor racing this afternoon. Here iis your Sonoma Raceway track preview with our mate, Calvin Fish. The vibrant colors are all around. The track has a brand new racing surface. Teams, drivers, and engineers say the grip level is insane and the lap times are bonkers. A lap here at Sonoma starts fast flat out into turn one. Fifth gear, carry the speed in, all the way to the right. Go up a gear compared to last year. Place the car into turn two. Huge speed, big commitment. Get the car back over to the curb. It is blind, and big elevation change is also a massive challenge. Placement of the race car is critical.
Stay clean off corner exit and watch your amount of steering input to go back to power into turn three. Through 3A and 3B it is a blind crest. Fourth gear corners these are. Then, the next turn is totally blind. You need to be careful with how much you steer the car if both ends go light. Watch out through The Carousel. It is a blind approach. Watch it under braking. This is a downhill cambered corner. We could see two abreast racing. Get down to the white line on this long radius through the turn, punch it at full throttle for the exit speed into turn seven. That is what the drivers want.
On the pole, Philip Ellis sharing with Jeff Burton. This is the #91 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Burton cannot stand waiting. But he accepts that Philip Ellis will keep the team out front. Oh, my heavens. We have Elliott Skeer, Bill Auberlen, and Bryan Sellers. Bill Auberlen tells us that he has signed again with BMW, and he met Varun Choksey and they put him in the GT3 BMW M4 GT3 and he comes out of Porsche Carrera Cup. They are with Samantha Tan Racing in the #28 BMW M4 GT3. The grip has definitely improved here at Sonoma. Bill Auberlen has a ton of laps around Sonoma.
It used to be a one-line racetrack but now it is one with multiple grooves. This is a baptism by fire for the GT3 drivers. We have race two tomorrow of course. Watch for reigning Pro-Am champions, CrowdStrike Racing by Riley plus more. Autodesk Chief Trust Officer Sebastian Goodwin gives the command to start engines. What a season a year ago for CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports. They are going for another title. Phillip Ellis is an AMG Mercedes factory driver. We could see Racer's Edge Motorsports with their new drivers, Luca Mars and Zach Veach. That is the same car Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher drove last year. Neither of them are now in the Honda fold and have moved on.
Massive elevation change of 160 feet, 15 stories. Most of it is in the first half of the lap and from turn eight and nine onwards it is a lot flatter. We have a couple formation laps but a little chilly at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. We have a dozen cars in this race. Strategy for this hour and a half race will come into play. Ellis and Burton will not need a yellow. They are one of the favorites. Let's see how things will shake out. We saw fireworks here a season ago. OK. CrowdStrike guest Chris Goodfellow will wave the green flag.
Here they come. Alignment spot on. The green flag waves! The race is on! They steam up the hill and Adam Adelson goes to second ahead of Luca Mars. A nice orderly start here. Ellis is building a gap for co-driver Jeff Burton for the second half of the race. One of the BMW's takes a peek into The Carousel. Good start for Varun Choksey into fourth in the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 sharing with Bill Auberlen. Elias Sabo off the road in his first GT3 start in the #8 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 he shares with Andy Lee. Luca Mars has his hands full with Varun Choksey. He is ahead of George Kurtz.
Varun Choksey raced with Wright Motorsports in Porsche Carrera Cup North America in 2023. Poor old Elias Sabo is being rescued and we are under Full Course Yellow with the safety car dispatched. This is not what Phillip Ellis and the DXDT Mercedes boys wanted. They want a long green flag run before they go for the driver change in the middle of the race. Scott Smithson starts the #08 team car before Bryan Sellers takes over. This year, in Pro or Pro-Am you can choose who will be your number one or two and we do not have a dedicated pit stop window. It is a maximum drive time of 50 minutes out of the hour and a half duration of the race. You can pit as early as 38 and a half minutes. Driver one will maximize the advantage.
The teams and strategists came to the SRO to tell them that the strategists want more control and all it does is extend the window with no hard line in the sand, taking it out of the hands of the marshals and into the hands of the teams. Poor old Elias Sabo got wedged into the bank and is being towed back onto terra firma. This track underwent its first full repave since 2001. There's barely any tire drop off. Drivers love grip on the track surface, so the tires do not wear and overheat. Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen won a race and scored five podiums last year after first teaming up at Virginia International Raceway.
This is Neil Verhagen's first time racing at Sonoma Raceway. Safety car lights out. We are headed back to green as Elias Sabo is now back in the race, caboose on the field. Green flag! Away we go again! Ellis stepping on it and now, look, we have a battle between Scott Smithson and Justin Rothberg! Rothberg is getting swamped. He runs wide and Samantha Tan makes her move. Scrub the tires off during the safety car, ride the brake against the gas pedal. Elias Sabo in the lane, a lap down. Very little seat time in the GT3 Aston Martin for Sabo. He needs all the seat time he can get.
Phillip Ellis takes off with Adam Adelson keeping his eye on him. These are different classes of course based on driver ratings, with all GT3 cars. At DXDT Racing, there is a buffer of three out of class cars that Colin Braun would need to move around to catch Jeff Burton. Burton looking on, watching Ellis whistle off into the distance. He has to pass Bill Auberlen, Zach Veach, and Adam Adelson. Well, pardon me. I meant to say Colin Braun, I think. Kurtz, Hardeman, and Smithson are fifth, sixth, and seventh. 1:33.224, CrowdStrike Fastest Lap uncorked by Ellis. Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer are in their first season in the Pro class.
They set the world ablaze when they debuted in 2023 here at Sonoma Raceway. So much grip through turn 11, early getting back to power and burying the right foot in the throttle. Last year you'd have dropped like a stone if you'd tried that. It is so hard to see through these blind corners looking at the sky before the road falls away into The Carousel. Turn six, long duration turn, loading up the outside tires. This is a very technical circuit. Thank heavens the GT3 cars have power steering. Ellis leading the motor race overall as we are watching the amateur drivers like Will Hardeman, Scott Smithson, and George Kurtz.
Eighteen thousandths of a second between best laps for Will Hardemann? Wow. Adam Carroll is his professional teammate. Maybe I should say, it is Philip Ellis who is storming away. Ellis fastest in all three sectors for the Swiss driver. He has had recent success in North American sports car racing. He loved watching Formula 1 as a kid and then Googled racing team,s sent emails to every one of them. One team invited him to drive a go kart. He walked away from one team with no money, but then he ended up coming into racing and has made a name for himself in GT racing with Mercedes-AMG in Europe and here stateside.
Drive a good, clean race and the #91 DXDT Burton Lumber Mercedes team can win today. Ellis has won twice at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, has a class win at the Nurburgring, and won in class at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Ellis is a dual citizen I believe between Switzerland and England, but was born in Germany. He separated from his family for a few years, looking for racing opportunities while living in Mallorca, Spain. Adam Adelson in the Porsche 911 GT3R (992) is leading in class in the Pro-Am division.
Adam Adelson has amazingly adapted to a GT3 class Porsche and he thrives in it with a teammate like Elliott Skeer and a team like Wright Motorsports who have been around a long time. The lead margin is ten seconds or so. Samantha Tan now runs in ninth place aboard the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 sharing with Neil Verhagen. She is wrestling a loose race car as we speak, chasing the similar BMW M4 GT3 of Justin Rothberg. Climb uphill into turn seven in the braking zone. The speed is even faster in that turn with the new track surface.
Tan and Verhagen could be a very potent duo. Former driver Niclas Jonsson has been mentoring Samantha Tan, and has worked with drivers like John Edwards and Neil Verhagen as well. Luca Mars racing with Racer's Edge, driving with former IndyCar racer Zach Veach, it has been something to watch so far. Veach says he has confidence in this team and the two of them are going to do all they can to perform on equal levels. Veach knows he needs more time to get used to the car on a high commitment circuit.
Veach is preparing for his stint. He is a really good driver even though he is pint sized. Veach finished fourth at the Long Beach Grand Prix in the IndyCar series a few years ago, as Scott Smithson has spun and is now doing what he can to recover. Pint size can work well for a racing driver. Being a tall bloke trying to get into a small race car is a tough situation. Justin Rothberg is being harried by Samantha Tan for sure. Turner Motorsports raced at Virginia International Raceway last year with Vincent Barletta and Robby Foley. The track issues curtailed testing for many teams here this weekend.
Rothberg ran earlier in the GTA race we covered. Half an hour almost complete of this 90-minute race. Not long before the halfway mark. No longer is the pit window dictated by mandatory ten-minute windows. It is down to stint lengths I believe. How close are we to seeing the switcheroo? We are within ten minutes. At DXDT Racing, they have started their professional driver with Ellis who is ahead of the field by 17 seconds. DXDT does not want to see a Full Course Yellow. Running long in the opening stint could have been at your detriment, but now, there is no drop off. The undercut will not work as a strategy.
1:32.481, Phillip Ellis resets the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap. Ellis is under tremendous pressure. The lap record we just mentioned is a new track record, in race conditions, six tenths of a second under the old record. Holy cow! Some of the turns were just resurfaced yesterday before we went racing for race one today. This is a perfect day for racing with grip in the tires and the surface. Philip Ellis is feeling it now and Jeff Burton too, is as cool as a cucumber. But what is bubbling inside? A lot of things going through his mind, I am sure. This team will need to compromise tomorrow when the driver rotation is swapped around. A good gamble.
All Burton wants is a good chance, and he is chomping at the bit to get into the car. He will be racing against Colin Braun, and we all know how fast he is. Elliott Skeer too, getting suited and booted. So, he will take over the leading car in the Pro class from co-driver Adam Adelson. Australian Tom Sargent and GMG Racing have had a race that has gone a wee bit pear shaped. That is the #32 car, the GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3R he shares alongside Kyle Washington. Luca Mars did the driver academy for Honda Performance Development.
Luca Mars could very well race next year in GT3 with Ford and the new Mustang GT3 program. Zach Veach too, has been doing simulator work on the IndyCar side. Luca Mars ran two TC America races in a Mazda MX-5 Cup racer and also raced in Pirelli GT4 America. Racer's Edge turns young drivers into proven pros like Dane Cameron, Jordan Taylor, and others. Racer's Edge have been the tip of the spear for HRC racing Acura NSX GT3 cars in SRO stateside. Rothburg, Tan, and Smithson, they are pushing each other and we have a spicy motor race between these three.
OK. #04 to the pit lane, maximizing seat time for Colin Braun. Bill Riley knows the rulebook backwards and forwards, getting George Kurtz out of the car. Braun has raced LMP2 cars and IndyCars, and is now in a GT3 car. Tires are changed, the car is refueled, and the driver change went smoothly. They are down off the air jacks and everything is peachy. Only four mechanics can work on the car. All of the Am drivers are in the lane and Philip Ellis will stay out for about ten m9nutes. The Silver graded drivers in the Pro cars are in. Adelson, Mars, and Varun Choksey. Elliott Skeer takes over the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
Ellis' pace has fallen off a wee bit in the last ten minutes. Maybe we have hit a point... oh, forget it. Ellis resets the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap. Humina, humina, humina. Now, we see the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 in the lane. Excuse me, that's #38 and Neil Verhagen is now in the car. Robby Foley takes over the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 as well. That is the #29 entry I believe. Bryan Sellers has taken over from Scott Smithson in the #08 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Verhagen tried moving to the fast lane and Foley stood his ground.
47 minutes to go and we have a battle between two of the finest young racers in BMW's arsenal. Ellis at the top of the shop. He must build the gap and we wonder if Jeff Burton can hold it. What a pressure cooker! Ellis brings CrowdStrike Fastest Lap down to 1:32.282. DXDT Racing were the only chaps to make this specific strategy call. It may be win or nothing, or not. A podium finish would be amazing for the #91 team. It is all about when he hits the pit lane at the control line to see where he will be. DXDT does not need a yellow for the rest of the race this afternoon.
Colin Braun is second in Pro-Am but is contending with the Pro level cars, stymied behind Bill Auberlen in the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. Ellis remains faster than any car on the road, but Elliott Skeer snatches fastest lap away from the German. Neil Verhagen and Robby Foley, two BMW factory drivers going hammer and tongs for P4 in Pro-Am and P7 in the overall. Neil Verhagen is racing for the first time at Sonoma but the simulator is a great help. Last month, Verhagen was named to BMW's Gen 2K team, for drivers born in the year 2000 or later. DXDT Racing are in the lane. Execute the pit stop as Phil Ellis hands off to Jeff Burton.
Fuel plugs in. The driver change is underway. The tires are being changed. Ellis has not been beaten on North American soil yet. He won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the GT Daytona class for GT3 cars in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Ellis down and away playing it safe on the target pit delta. Elliott Skeer, second overall, leading the Pro class. Colin Braun is 18 seconds in-arrears of the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche. 36 seconds between Burton and Skeer. Zach Veach is second in Pro with Colin Braun moving ahead of Bill Auberlen. Colin Braun is chasing down Jeff Burton.
Ellis gave Jeff Burton a 36 second lead. He tells us in the interview with Amanda Busick, that he believes their strategy can work without a safety car intervention. They will be gambling and doing the reverse in race two, tomorrow. Jeff Burton now leads Colin Braun by 40 seconds with 38 minutes left on the clock equaling 25 laps, I think. To win, yes. To podium, a different situation altogether. Two podiums over the last two seasons for Jeff Burton. It is fun to gamble and gives me something to talk about through the keyboard.
Elliott Skeer, though, is scything into Jeff Burton's lead. Drive through penalty for Zach Veach and Racer's Edge Motorsports for speeding in the pit lane. Zach Veach is flying Plummet Airways in the overall but dropping a single spot in class. Neil Verhagen is closing in on Robby Foley hand over fist. The BMW M4 GT3's go easily up over the curbs. We are two or three laps away from having a scrap for the overall lead. Elliott Skeer is chasing Jeff Burton. Colin Braun is flying but is 17 seconds down on Skeer before Auberlen, Carroll, Foley, come up in the order. Carroll, Foley, Verhagen, excuse me. Remember that these cars are not fighting in the same class.
Jeff Burton is learning a track that is a totally different cup of tea than last year. Elliott Skeer and Wright Motorsports were embedded with Brad Pitt, also known as Sonny Hayes, for the forthcoming Formula 1 movie. It is amazing how drivers can put the power down on the new surface here at Sonoma. The gap is down to 1.6 seconds. Change for the overall lead as Elliott Skeer grabs the spot away from Jeff Burton. The Wright Motorsports team are looking for a debut Pro class win and an overall win has we have half an hour to go. We have been racing now for an hour.
Skeer was poised to be the next great American Porsche factory driver, and then got linked with Adam Adelson, and they have become best pals, and are stepping it up as drivers. Absolutely amazing. Skeer and Wright Motorsports won the Porsche Cup in 2015 and was mentored by Porsche legend Patrick Long. Now we compare snd contrast between Jeff Burton and Colin Braun with no cars between them, and a gap of 12.6 seconds. Jeff Burton will be fighting to hang on. His lap times are in the mid 1:36 bracket. They might have to live and fight another day, into tomorrow for race two.
Colin Braun uncorks the fastest lap, the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap again. Foley and Verhagen have caught Adam Carroll who is the cork in the wine bottle. Bryan Sellers, again, as we said, he is in recovery mode. Sellers is doing nicely, steaming right along. Carroll, Foley, Verhagen, and Sellers. The DXDT team will be testing next week at Sebring International Raceway with the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R which could make it's debut in the next races at Sebring International Raceway in May.
Jeff Burton now sees Colin Braun looming large and watch out too, for Aaron Povoledo. This is a battle of three Mercedes-AMGs. Burton crowding down to try and hold Braun, but Braun takes the Pro-Am lead with 25 minutes to go. Burton must hang with Colin Braun in the remaining time. 1:32.241, Colin Braun, the new fast lap and a hip check by Verhagen of Foley and now, Bryan Sellers wants it. Verhagen wide through The Carousel and slams the door in Foley's face. I wonder if Foley wanted to make a move on Adam Carroll and it did not work.
Still 23 minutes on the board. This battle pack is much faster than Jeff Burton. Neil Verhagen all over Adam Carroll like the proverbial cheap suit. Verhagen wriggling around trying to get inside Carroll's head. Burton is slower than he was before. Carroll and Auberlen closing in with 21 minutes to go. Carroll running deep into the turn seven braking zone. Adam Carroll is not a household name in the states save for a couple IndyCar races he ran for Andretti Global a decade and a half ago at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio. Whether it is GT or open wheel, he gets the job done.
Jeff Burton now being harried by Bill Auberlen. This pass is for third overall and second in Pro I believe. Carroll in the final Pro-Am podium spot. Adam Carroll brushes Auberlen, fully loaded, up the hill! Yikes! That was a wreck that did not happen! The Pro-Am class is incredibly competitive. Jeff Burton is still the erstwhile, overall race leader with just 16 minutes to go. The Pro class fight is closing on Jeff Burton. He will have to push, hard. He has driven a clean, smart race though. But Burton has a pack of hungry wolves nearly right on his six.
Verhagen looking to the outside, doing the switcheroo and can't make it work. Sellers smells a podium and can take advantage if we have argy bargy or a crash, bang, wallop. Carroll flashing the headlights at Jeff Burton. Burton uncorks fastest lap of his race at 1:36.2. Verhagen tries the outside again trying to solve Adam Carroll's riddle. How do you solve the puzzle, Wheel of Fortune style. Verhagen makes a banzai move for third and it sticls. Robby Foley has a head of steam. Carroll forces the issue and Foley has to slot in. But poor old Carroll just got mugged by the BMW's and now, Bryan Sellers wants it as well.
We are watching now, the scrap between Jeff Burton and Neil Verhagen. Verhagen and Foley make passes. Braun leads Pro-Am, 38 seconds to the good over the fight we are watching. Bryan Sellers is now right in Carroll's wheel tracks and now Jeff Burton makes a mistake but keeps it on the road. DXDT's strategy was contingent on limited or no yellows but the safety car scramble has bitten them in today's race. The reigning Pro-Am champions are really still going for it. George Kurtz mentions the CrowdStrike team took a conventional strategy.
They are seeing what happens and are glad Colin Braun is in the lead. Adam Carroll, the Northern Irishman, motoring a wee bit ahead of Bryan Sellers, the American driver. DXDT will shift from Mercedes to Corvette as soon as Sebring, the next race of the championship. We could see one or two Corvette GT3's and perhaps, before the end of the year, a Ford Mustang GT3. Will Hardemann in the #19 Esses Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 is really going for it with their strongest form. They will swap to the Am class with Will Hardemann and Alan Metni, the Porsche Carrera Cup North America racer. Their home race will be round three at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Alan Metni is from Austin, Texas, and the team is based not too far from Circuit of the Americas. Sellers hounding Adam Carroll but has not found the answer to the riddle yet. Ellis has opened everyone's eyes in race one here at Sonoma. We will see how race two turns out tomorrow. That will be another fun story to tell. Ellis though, will need to cut his way through the pro's in the Pro class. Elliott Skeer, our overall and Pro leader, whistling his way through a Sunday drive with the Lotus flavored paint scheme of dark green with yellow stripes and circuit configurations embedded into the stripes.
Wright Motorsports out of Ohio. Meanwhile, Tom Sargent is battling with Aaron Povoledo deep in the field. But their lap times are really close to the leaders. Inside the final three minutes. The Mercedes seems to be in the sweet spot all the time and is very compliant. Great downforce and great under braking. Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson are cruising to victory. They can think now of overall wins instead of just class wins with the Pro class in GT World Challenge America being thinned out. CrowdStrike by Riley Motorsports Mercedes are in good shape and on the precipice of winning again. Colin Braun was George Kurtz's driver coach.
Elliott Skeer is absolutely cruising right now and just a few turns left to go before he and Adam Adelson kick off the 2024 SRO GT World Challenge America season, with a victory! They dominate race one at Sonoma Raceway! Colin Braun and George Kurtz kick off theit title defense in Pro-Am. Who will complete the class podiums? We see Auberlen in third. Adam Carroll will hold Bryan Sellers at bay and come home fourth in class, sixth overall. Ellis and Burton might get stymied tomorrow. We'll just have to see how race two works out tomorrow. Cue the dance music for the results.
Overall/Pro: #120 Adelson/Skeer Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Pro-Am: #04 Kurtz/Braun CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3
So, that is a wrap from Sonoma for race one this evening, and we will see you for more GTWC America racing here at Sonoma Raceway in the California wine country, tomorrow. For now, we have GT4 coming up. So we aren't done yet. But, as for GT3, we bid you good night from Sonoma, and we'll see you tomorrow for race two. Take care, everyone. Join us for the GT4 race.
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