Sonoma Saturday Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***A sizable number of fans turned out to Sonoma Raceway on Saturday for a busy day of track action that saw the second Pirelli GT4 America race, as well as the opening races for GT America powered by AWS, McLaren Trophy America and Toyota GR Cup North America of the weekend.

***A total of 15 GT4 America entries — nearly half the field —  were found to be in “non-compliance” following the final race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon, per a GT4 steward note. Teams will be required to present homologation certificates in the next event at Circuit of The Americas at initial scrutineering or be subject to a penalty.

***The cars listed are the following: No. 5 OGH Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4, Nos. 7, 10, 25 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsports, No. 21 ACI BMW M4 GT4 EVO, No. 17 Rigid Speed BMW, No. 028 RS1 Porsche, No. 30 TechSport Racing Ford Mustang GT4, No. 48 McCumbee McAleer Racing Mustang, Nos. 68 and 812 RAFA Racing Team Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2s, No. 90 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW and Nos. 94, 98 and 188 Random Vandals Racing BMWs.

***McLaren issued a technical note prior to its opening Trophy America race of the weekend regarding a potential “bug” with its software that controls the push-to-pass system on the Artura Trophy EVO cars. All race data will be reviewed post-event, with any driver or team found to have exceeded 300 seconds of the push-to-pass usage to be reported to the stewards.

***The note read: “It has been brought to our attention of a potential bug within the RaceCon software in that after P2P is reset the 300 [seconds] countdown no longer depletes but the system remains operational. This appears to be effecting versions 2.13 and 2.14 of Racecon where the car is not powered off (Position 0) after the P2P reset. To ensure all competitors remain in compliance with the regulations and the maximum 300-second limit for the race, all teams are required to power the car off to Position 0 following any P2P reset.”

***Ruckus Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo is racing under a waiver this weekend, with the stewards having approved the Scott Blind-driven GT America entry to run without Porsche’s homologated brake blockers, a part which is not currently available.

***The key changes to the rules for the new-look GT World Challenge America powered by AWS three-hour race format, which debuts on Sunday, involves drive times. The minimum drive time for all drivers is 75 minutes, while the maximum driving stint is 50 minutes but will be extended to 55 minutes in the event of a safety car period.

***A sporting note was released on Thursday clarifying that the 75-minute minimum does not include time spent completing a valid pit stop. However, time spent traversing the pit lane without completing a valid pit stop will still be included in the stint time.

***Procedures for qualifying and the start of the race has also been adjusted. A two-driver average lap time, split between a pair of 15-minute sessions, will determine the grid, in a similar format used in GTWC Europe Endurance Cup. However, unique to America is that Driver 1, which is the FIA Bronze-rated driver in the case of Pro-Am lineups, must start the race.

***Several of the paddock’s leading race strategists, including Archangel Motorsports’ Mike Johnson, were seen evaluating different possible fuel and/or tire change options during Wednesday’s test day. All pit stops that involve refueling is mandated to be at least 85 seconds this weekend, from pit in to pit out, while those without refueling do not have a minimum time.

***Toyota has no plans to replace its GR Supra GT4 EVO2 for the foreseeable future, despite the fifth-generation road car scheduled to end production this month according to TRD’s customer racing manager Mike Norem.

***Norem told Sportscar365: “The GR Supra GT4 is homologated through 2031 we we’ll evaluate what makes sense beyond that. Right now the GR Supra GT4 will be the platform for GT4 until the end of the homologation.”

***Toyota has brought in ex-IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball as its new race director for GR Cup North America. Kimball began in his new role earlier this month at the season opener in Arlington. “He’s been great to work with and it has been well-received by the competitors so far,” said Norem.

***Norem, meanwhile, gave high marks for the 14-turn, 2.73-mile temporary circuit placed around the AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field and featured a near one-mile straightaway. GR Cup served as a support series for the NTT IndyCar Series’ inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington.

***He said: “For a first time street circuit, it was fantastic. There weren’t any major hurdles to go over. The teams really loved it. We had some feedback from our competitors that it was one of the best street circuits they’ve been to. We’d certainly want to look at having street circuits with us in the future.”

***GR Cup’s WWEX Group Legends Cup, for gentlemen drivers, has been expanded from six to ten races this year, with the class set to feature at all rounds except Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Additionally, drivers will have a two-race drop score to take advantage of, in the event they are forced to miss a weekend or have two bad results.

***McLaren Automotive motorsport director Giorgio Sanna revealed that he’d like to find a team in North America to help feed the British manufacturer’s young driver program, similar to what was recently announced with British outfit Elite Motorsport.

***Elite has entries in the UK junior open-wheel ranks, including the GB3 and GB4 championships, which Sanna said offers a “very good base” of young drivers. “The principle is to scout the youngest generation of drivers ready to go in Trophy,” he added.

***Flying Lizard Motorsports, which was initially tabbed to run longtime Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America customer Slade Stewart’s BMW M4 GT3 EVO in GTWC America this year before the deal went to Riley, is working on fielding additional McLaren Trophy America cars later this year according to program manager Darren Law.

***The Arizona-based team has three cars in the SRO America paddock this weekend, with two BMW M4 GT4 EVO entries in partnership with Colorado MotorSport (Zach Lumsden/Kris Wilson; GT4 America) and (Craig Lumsden; GT America) as well as a McLaren Artura Trophy EVO for Philip Ploskas and Johnny O’Connell, who makes his racing return since being forced to sit out last year due to undergoing neck surgery.

***The Lizards have also been busy back at its base at Apex Motor Club, a club track near Phoenix that has grown to 350-plus members. The team houses a dozen cars, which regularly take part in monthly races in the winter months.

***Scott Dollahite, who has taken on a new role as team manager of his family-run squad, has been tight-lipped on the prospect of having a Ford factory driver join Cameron Lawerence and Alex Sedgwick for October’s season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, at the wheel of their Pro class Ford Mustang GT3 EVO.

***Dollahite told Sportscar365: “Right not we’re just taking it one race at a time. Our focus right now is on Sonoma and then COTA. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Anything’s a possibility.”

***Ford Racing has already confirmed that it will support at least one Pro class Mustang GT3 in every Intercontinental GT Challenge race this year, with HRT Ford Racing serving as its partner team for at least the first three rounds of the season.

***This weekend doesn’t mark Sedgwick’s first time behind the wheel of a Mustang, as the 27-year-old Brit drove a Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2018.

***Both drivers have yet to visit the Ford Racing Technical Center in Concord, N.C., although Dollahite said plans are in place for Lawrence and Sedgwick to get seat time in the manufacturer’s simulator at some point this year, to further acclimate them to the Multimatic-built GT3 car.

***While SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel is at Phillip Island for the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season opener this weekend, a large delegation of SRO Motorsports Group executives and staff from Europe are on-site at Sonoma Raceway, including the organization’s chief operating officer Patricia Kiefer and sporting director Jacquie Groom, who are expected to attend the majority of events this year.

***Additionally, the global chief marketing officer Paul Hembrey and head of GT World Challenge global communications Anthony Peacock are also present, taking in their first SRO race weekend in their newly created positions that has further bolstered the ever-growing organization.

***SRO America has added several new series partners, including Vbrick, as the official enterprise video partner and CieloVision, as the official spatial intelligence technology partner, although CrowdStrike is no longer part of the series. It comes amid company founder and CEO George Kurtz’s decision to focus his racing in LMP2 this year. It’s unclear the length of the cybersecurity firm’s contract as title sponsor of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, which began in 2023 and is already confirmed for this year.

***Sunday’s final day of SRO America action at Sonoma Raceway sees GTWC America qualifying begin at 8:45 a.m. PST (11:45 a.m. EST), followed by the second McLaren Trophy America race at 9:50 a.m. PST (12:50 p.m. EST), GT America Race 2 at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. PST), GR Cup Race 2 at 12 p.m. PST (3 p.m. EST) prior to the debut of the three-hour feature race for GTWC America (1:45 p.m. PST/4:45 p.m. EST).

***All races, as well as GTWC Qualifying, will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch, with the single-make race also available on the McLaren and Toyota YouTube channels. A 60-minute recap show for the GTWC America race and GT4 America sprints will air on Sun. April 5 at 12 p.m. EST on FOX Sports 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