- Grenier, Stephens and Mercedes Dominate in Pro
- Foley, Rothberg and BMW Win Pro-Am
- Provisional Race 1 Results
The 2025 GT World Challenge America powered by AWS officially kicked off on Saturday afternoon, as the green flag for Race 1 waved for the 90-minute race. Some of the best drivers from across the world were on track competing for the coveted first win of the season.
Canadian outfit JMF Motorsport was victorious on the hills of Sonoma Raceway, clinching their first win in GT3 with Mikaël Grenier and Michai Stephens. The action never stopped in the Pro-Am class, but ultimately, it was Turner Motorsport who prevailed thanks to a stellar drive from Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg.
Jay Schreibman and Oswaldo Negri co-commanded their No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 masterfully, clinching the win in the Am class.
Pro Class
After securing the overall pole position earlier this morning, Kenton Koch had a perfect start as the green flag waved overhead, commanding the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 and leading the field into the first 90-minute event of the season.
He had a healthy gap to the next closest class competitor, aided by the buffer of Philip Ellis in the Pro-Am entry, but the action began to shape up more and more once Ellis managed to move ahead.
As the halfway mark approached and teams began coming down pit lane for driver changes, trouble arose for the No. 51 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey, as they were handed a four-second post-race time penalty for a short pit stop. Meanwhile, Michai Stephens completed a stellar first stint in the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 before handing over the machine to teammate Mik Grenier, who took over the lead as he returned on track.
Connor De Philippi swapped out with Koch and set off down the road to chase down Grenier ahead, but was temporarily held up by a Pro-Am car that was running between them. A little further down the track, Jan Heylan was running in third in the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R, but Choksey was heavily applying pressure as he sought to snatch away the final podium position.
There was no room for error between the two as the battle continued to heat up, but it reached a boiling point when Heylen made contact with Pro-Am’s Tom Sargent while navigating through traffic, which opened the door for Choksey to propel himself into third.
At the front of the field, Grenier steadily maintained his lead all the way to the finish line, securing the overall victory on debut for JMF Motorsports in what was their first-ever race with GT3 machinery.
The Pro podium was further completed by Random Vandals Racing in second and third place, as Choksey was able to pull enough of a gap to RS1 to keep his foot on the final step.
“ Michai knows how to drive,” stated Mikaël Grenier after the race. “I think it's quite emotional for the team. He did a mega job to start the race, it's great for everyone.”
Michai echoed Mikaël’s thoughts: “It’s a testament to Mr. Farrow and everybody that supports him, as well as the SRO organization and Mercedes-AMG. It's really a family affair and as you can see, it's reminding people as to why they started in the very beginning. It's very heartfelt, very rewarding.”
Pro-Am Class
Just as they did throughout the season prior, Regulator Racing elected to run on an alternative strategy. Philip Ellis took the green flag, commanding the No. 91 Mercedes-AMG GT3, setting his sights on the front of the field. It didn’t take long for the Swiss to take the overall lead, and from there he focused on building up a healthy gap to the rest of the Pro-Am teams.
With 41 minutes remaining in the race, he handed over the reins to his co-driver Jeff Burton, who held on to the class lead as he went back out on track, but was being hunted down by the No. 16 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Marcelo Hahn. However, the Ferrari also had to defend its position from Robby Foley, who was fast approaching in his No. 29 BMW M4 GT3. The Turner Motorsport driver made a successful pass after getting his tires up to temperature, and began cutting into Burton’s advantage, taking over the lead with 25 minutes left on the clock.
Hahn was next to overtake Burton, moving into second place. Just behind, a Mercedes-AMG GT3 showdown erupted as the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley machine, piloted by Colin Braun, made a daring but successful pass on Burton and the No. 27 CRP of Isaac Sherman, pulling off a two-for-one pass from fifth up to third in Turn 11 with less than ten minutes to go.
Braun was then able to complete another overtake for second place, as Hahn was left defending the last spot on the podium against persistent pressure from Isaac Sherman. Though Hahn was certainly feeling the heat from Sherman behind, he firmly held on to his third place position as he crossed the line.
“ It was awesome,” said Pro-Am winner Robby Foley. “We had a great new M4 GT4 EVO today. It’s a good improvement. The guys at Turner Motorsport gave me a great setup. We tried to set sail during the race, and it got interesting at the end with Colin (Braun) catching us. I was behind a group of other cars and I didn't want to get involved in their race, but all in all it was a great day.”
“I was really nervous coming into this weekend,” admitted teammate Justin Rothberg. “I had not touched a car since last October. Haven't even driven a go-kart, nothing! So to come back, get up to pace in one day, and then for Robby and me to do this, it just feels amazing and it’s making me feel really good about the season ahead. I'm excited to see what happens next.”
Let’s Get Racing
The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS will return to the track for Race 2 on Sunday afternoon, March 30th at 3:00 PM PT.
If you can’t make it to Sonoma Raceway, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTSonoma.