Kohlbecker Wins as Fletcher Falters in Sonoma Race 1

Photo: TGRNA

Spike Kohlbecker took over the sole lead of the Toyota GR Cup North America points standings with his second victory of the season following a race to forget for rival Jeremy Fletcher.

The TechSport Racing driver led Saturday’s 45-minute contest at Sonoma Raceway from flag to flag, taking a 1.558-second win over Will Robusto in the No. 2 RVA Graphics Motorsport by Speed Syndicate Toyota GR86 Cup car.

It came after Fletcher, in the No. 22 Copeland Motorsports entry, dropped out of contention on Lap 2 after locking up his brakes and nearly ending up in the barriers after getting caught up over the curb in Turn 1.

Fletcher, who won Race 2 in Arlington, dropped to 27th and lost even more time after making a pit stop, and ultimately retired after completing only four laps.

While Kohlbecker extended his lead to more than six seconds, a heavy accident for the No. 80 Copeland entry of Paityn Feyen resulted in a full-course caution with 17 minutes remaining.

The race resumed with eight minutes to go.

Max Schweid completed the podium in the No. 98 Speed Syndicate entry after passing the No. 72 BSI Racing Toyota of  Ethan Goulart in the final five minutes.

Garrett Manes, in his GR Cup debut, completed the top-five after the No. 42 TechSport entry of Parker DeLong suffered an issue and was forced into the pit lane after the restart.

The No. 78 BSI Toyota Ethan Ayers was sixth ahead of TechSport’s Malbec Ramos and Mike Edwards, son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Carl Edwards, with a career-best eighth place finish in only his third series start.

Top class honors in the WWEX Group Legends Cup went to Eagles Canyon w/ Fast Track’s Patrick Brunson after a spin for Livio Galanti in the closing moments.

Brunson crossed the line 19th overall.

Race 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 12 p.m. PST (3 p.m. EST) with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on GRCup.com.

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