Rothberg Wins Race 1 in Long Beach After Late Drama

Justin Rothberg won the opening GT America powered by AWS race of the weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to become the third different winner in as many races this season, after late drama for James Sofronas.

The GMG Racing team owner/driver looked set for a comfortable victory in Southern California after making an early pass for the lead before bringing his No. 14 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to a stop on the main straight, resulting in a yellow flag with less than two minutes to go.

Rotherberg then assumed the overall lead of the race just before the field fell under caution to complete a charge up the order from fourth on the grid in his No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Sonoma Race 2 winner Kyle Washington finished second after making early progress from his starting position of seventh. Washington was locked in numerous battles throughout the race, including one with eventual third-place finisher and pole-sitter Gray Newell.

CrowdStrike by Riley’s George Kurtz came home in fourth with Ross Chouest rounding out the overall top five in SRO3 aboard the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Seventh-place finisher Blake McDonald will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Race 2 after reeling off the fastest racing lap in Saturday’s contest.

With fellow GT2 class competitor CJ Moses encountering an electrical gremlin on the formation lap, MLT Motorsports’ Adrian Kunzle took the class win in the No. 142 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2.

Paul Sparta held off consistent pressure from Judson Holt behind for the GT4 class lead with the pair of BMW M4 GT4 EVO drivers running nose-to-tail for roughly 15 minutes before the Random Vandals Racing driver went long at Turn 1, allowing Holt to assume the class lead and eventual GT4 win by the time the checkered flag fell.

Multiple cars fell by the wayside before the field took the start, with Jason Bell’s RacersEdge Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo unable to join the field for the formation lap due to electrical issues before Moses took to pit lane before the green flag.

Patrick Mulcahy was set for a third-place start in his No. 54 GMG Porsche 911 GT3 R, but a throttle cable issue prevented him from taking the start.

Race 2 is slated for 11:20 a.m. PST on Sunday with live streaming coverage available on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel, MAVTV and on Twitch.

RESULTS: Race 1