23 Entries for St. Pete Season Opener

Photo: SRO

A total of 23 cars are set for this weekend’s GT America powered by AWS season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg.

The entry list for the pair of 40-minute single-driver races sees 12 GT3 cars in the SRO3 class and 11 GT4 entries, featuring a number of new and returning drivers and teams to SRO America competition.

Reigning series champion George Kurtz will defend his title in CrowdStrike by Riley’s No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which is one seven Mercedes GT3 cars in the field.

Other notable AMGs include DXDT Racing’s Scott Smithson and Jeff Burton, Andy Pilgrim and Anthony Bartone in the pair of Bartone Bros Racing by RealTime cars, TKO Motorsports’ Memo Gidley and Jason Daskalos, who is now running under the CRP Racing banner.

Derek DeBoer will be at the wheel of TRG’s new Aston Martin Vantage GT3, while GMG Racing team owner/driver James Sofronas is set to give the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II its North American debut.

A pair of Type-991.2 Porsche 911 GT3 Rs are entered by P1 Group by MRS and Flying Lizard Motorsports for Alex Vogel and Andy Wilzoch, respectively, with Mishumotors’ Mirco Schultis in his Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R.

The GT4 class is headlined by defending class champion Ross Chouest in the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4, which is the most represented model on the grid with five entries.

Jason Bell (Flying Lizard Motorsports), Gray Newell (The Heart of Racing), Moisey Uretsky (Accelerating Performance) and Todd Coleman (Archangel Motorsports) make up the other Aston Martin GT4 entries.

Blackdog Speed Shop is set for its return in the final eligible season of the Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R, with team owner/driver Tony Gaples back in action after several years away from SRO America competition.

Team ACP Tangerine will field a pair of BMW M4 GT4s for Kenneth Goldberg and Steve Weber, while Nicolas Shanny’s Carrus Callas Raceteam Toyota GR Supra GT4 will also be on the grid.

Thomas Collingwood is entered in his BGB Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, as well as RENNtech Motorsports’ Thomas Johnson in a Mercedes-AMG GT4.

Track action begins on Friday with practice, qualifying and the first race, at 5:55 p.m. ET, with Race 2 slated for Saturday at 12:15 p.m. ET, both of which will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube page.

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