O’Connell Sweeps Weekend With Dominant Race 2 Win in Sonoma

Photo: Melissa Sinclair/PWC

Johnny O’Connell has claimed a dominant Race 2 victory, sweeping the weekend at Sonoma Raceway for Cadillac Racing.

The four-time and defending Pirelli World Challenge champion took over the lead from pole-sitter Austin Cindric at the start and immediately stretched out to a four-second gap in his No. 3 Cadillac ATS-V.R.

O’Connell extended the margin to 11.386 seconds by the checkered flag over the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3 of Alvaro Parente, whose second place finish has put the Portuguese driver back in the lead of the GT Drivers’ Championship.

Cindric, who lost out on his maiden PWC win on Saturday to O’Connell on the final lap, completed the podium in third in the No. 6 K-PAX McLaren.

Patrick Long charged from 14th on the grid to 4th to keep his title hopes alive. The Porsche factory driver provisionally trails Parente by 9 points heading into next month’s championship-decider at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

With his third win of the year, O’Connell is now tied with Cooper on 1451 points in third, following a tough day for Cooper, who pitted early with nose damage to his Cadillac, finishing 22nd overall.

Utah winner Bryan Heitkotter completed the top-five in his No. 05 Always Evolving Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

Michael Schein and Alec Udell, meanwhile, also claimed weekend sweeps in GTA and GT Cup, respectively.

Schein took his No. 16 Wright Porsche to a 16.6-second class win over the No. 78 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3 of Andrew Kim, with Cooper MacNeil again in third in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche.

The No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Martin Fuentes, who clinched the GTA title on Saturday, failed to finish after pitting with mechanical issues on Lap 2.

Udell scored his 12th GT Cup class win of the season in his No. 17 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, holding off title rival Sloan Urry and local favorite Mike Hedlund, who finished third in class.

The 50-minute race ran caution-free, with no incidents.

RESULTS: Race 2

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