Kurtz Rebounds for Race 1 Win

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

George Kurtz has scored a come-from-behind victory in the inaugural GT America powered by AWS race at Sonoma Raceway.

The DXDT Racing driver drove his No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a 5.90-second win over the No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Charlie Luck despite serving a drive-through penalty for a jumped start.

Kurtz had nearly a 20-second lead prior to serving the penalty, which initially dropped him to fourth overall before the late-race charge.

He got around Luck for the overall lead with less than ten minutes remaining in the 40-minute single-driver sprint race to cruise to the win.

Luck scored GT3 Masters honors with his runner-up overall finish while Jason Harward, in his pro racing debut, came home third overall in the No. 88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Kyle Washington was fourth in the No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche, benefiting from a pair of spins by the Rearden Racing Lamborghinis of Jeff Burton and Dmitri Novikov.

Quinlan Dominant in GT4

GT4 class honors went to the No. 119 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Sean Quinlan, who led from flag-to-flag.

Quinlan finished 5.254 seconds ahead of Robb Holland’s Ford Mustang GT4 and the No. 2 GMG Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Jason Bell, who completed the class podium in third.

Jason Daskalos, who started second overall in his Audi R8 LMS ultra, was one of two cars not to finish due to damage sustained in the race.

The No. 54 Black Swan Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Tim Pappas was the race’s only other retirement, also due to contact. 

Race 2 gets underway Sunday at 8:45 a.m. PT (11:45 a.m. ET).

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