Daskalos Wins Race 1 at COTA

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Jason Daskalos scored victory in the first GT America powered by AWS race of the weekend at Circuit of The Americas after making a late-race pass on James Sofronas for top honors.

The CRP Racing driver pedaled his No. 27 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a 9.593-second win over Johnny O’Connell’s No. 3 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in a 40-minute contest that saw drama for Sofronas as well as George Kurtz.

While Daskalos jumped from sixth to second at the start, Sofronas got around pole-sitter O’Connell to take over the point on the opening lap and managed to control the majority of the race.

However, Sofronas’ No. 14 GMG Racing Audi sustained diffuser damage and began to drop back, ultimately losing the lead with seven minutes to go before dropping to fourth.

O’Connell appeared to be en route to complete the podium until the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG of Kurtz slowed on the final lap while running second, handing the runner-up spot to the Georgian.

Justin Rothberg completed the top-five in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 after a late-race duel with Kyle Washington.

GT2 honors again went to Alan Grossberg in the No. 102 TPC Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, as the lone class competitor this weekend.

Issac Sherman, meanwhile, continued his class win streak in GT4, with the Rotek Racing driver scoring his seventh consecutive victory in the No. 098 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

Sherman finished 2.364-seconds ahead of Curt Swearingin in the No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche, with Gray Newell completing the class podium in his No. 25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Race 2 gets underway Sunday at 9:35 a.m. CDT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

RESULTS: Race 1

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