Kozarov, Burton Score First Overall Win in SprintX Race 1

Vesko Kozarov and Jeff Burton claimed their first overall win of the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX season in the first SprintX/West race at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday.

The Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 moved into the lead by passing pole-sitter Christian Szymczak after 15 minutes, allowing Kozarov and Burton to hang on for the win, while running in the West Am class.

Szymczak started from pole in his No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 which he shares with Kenny Murillo, who ultimately finished third.

Gregory Liefooghe made his way bast Murillo in the final ten minutes, moving his Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 into second position at Turn 2.

Two safety car periods were called during the race, with the first coming after Preston Calvert was spun by Matt Travis’ Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.

This ended Team Panoz Racing’s race, while the Nolasport driver was given a drive-through penalty.

A second safety car was brought out with 18 minutes on the clock after Derek DeBoer made contact with the tire barriers. The TRG driver was able to walk away from the incident under his own power.

The Cameron Racing BMW of Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan eventually finished second in the lead of the SprintX Pro-Am class, with the Murillo Mercedes third, taking the West Pro-Am class win.

Fourth went to Jarrett Andretti and Colin Mullan’s Andretti Autosport McLaren 570S GT4, ahead of the Nolasport Porsche after its drive-through penalty.

The final class, SprintX Am, went the way of GMG Racing’s Audi of James Sofronas and Jason Bell.

Race 2 will get underway at 2:45 p.m. PDT on Sunday, with live streaming on the series’ website. Liefooghe will start from pole after setting the best lap time in Race 1.

RESULTS: Race 1 (SprintX)
RESULTS: Race 1 (West)