GMG’s Sofronas to Debut Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in St. Pete

Photo: GMG Racing

The Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II is set for its first professional race on U.S. soil in next weekend’s GT America powered by AWS season opener at St. Petersburg with GMG Racing’s James Sofronas.

Sofronas, who enters his 30th year of World Challenge/SRO America competition with more than 300 series starts, will pilot the team’s No. 14 Audi in the pair of 40-minute sprint races, kicking off the California-based team’s 2023 season.

GMG was slated to take part in last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with the latest-generation Audi but is understood to have been denied an entry due to the event’s capacity grid.

With Kyle Washington and CJ Moses having personal conflicts, Sofronas will fly the flag as the team’s solo entry in St. Pete, with both drivers expected to be in action beginning at Sonoma Raceway in late March.

Additionally, drivers Jay Logan and Todd Parriott will also join the team at Circuit of The Americas in May.

“Our racing program is primarily focused on Porsches as we manage all models in their motorsport ladder program, but with the [Type-992] GT3 R’s availability delayed until June of this year, this R8 GT3 Evo II filled the role for our GT3 program alongside Kyle’s [Type-991.2] GT3 R,” Sofronas explained.

“I’m extremely excited to kick off the season at St. Pete with the SRO series in this new R8, in a series where I made my debut in 1994.”

Sofronas took part in selected GT America races last year, highlighted by victories at Road America and Nashville.

In addition to the Audi, Sofronas said the team will put Washington’s Type-991.2 Porsches into service until it receives the new Type-992 GT3 car this summer.

“Kyle will be running the [previous-gen] GT3 R until the new 992 arrives,” he said. “Our plan is to run the new car in both single and multi-driver programs.”

GMG, meanwhile, has remained an active entrant at The Thermal Club over the winter months, with multiple customer programs in action.

“We have been extremely busy with our off-season customer racing program, focusing primarily on our Porsche GT3 Cup car clients at The Thermal Club,” Sofronas added.

“The Thermal Club has been a wonderful facility to implement our driver development program as most of our drivers graduate from the club-based racing program into an SRO/IMSA/USAC racing series.”

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