Blind Quickest in Sonoma Practice

Photo: Andrew Miterko/SRO

GT America presented by AWS rookie Scott Blind ended up quickest following a pair of practice sessions for this weekend’s season opening races at Sonoma Raceway.

The Ruckus Racing team owner/driver, who scored a record four titles in Porsche single-make racing last year, reeled off a best lap of 1:35.784 in Friday’s opening practice session in his No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo to edge the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Ross Chouest by 0.092 seconds.

All of the top times came in the day’s opening 30-minute session, which saw 2022 SRO3 champion Memo Gidley record the third quickest time in his SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, followed by Joel Cortes and Marc Muzzo, who completed the top-five in their RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo and R. Ferri Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, respectively.

Dave Musial Sr., in Wright Motorsports’ Porsche and the Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R of Mirco Schultis completed the top-eight.

David Lecko ended up quickest of the two Cup class competitors, in his RacingSupport Ginetta GTP8, which had a best lap of 1:45.687, as one of the few improvements in the evening session.

The lone GT4 class competitor, Craig Lumsden, in the No. 610 Flying Lizard Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO, recorded a fastest lap of 1:54.148.

A total of 13 cars appear set to take part in the pair of 40-minute races after several withdrawals and two cars – both Kellymoss Porsches – using the preliminary sessions for practice ahead of their GT World Challenge America powered by AWS campaigns.

Next up is qualifying, which is scheduled for 9:10 a.m. PST (12:10 p.m. EST) before the first round of the season, which is scheduled for a 5:20 p.m. PST (8:20 p.m. EST) start in the evening, with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

RESULTS: Practice 1/Practice 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John