SONOMA, Calif. – George Kurtz drove his No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to victory Sunday at Sonoma Raceway in a flag-to-flag run that completed a GT America powered by AWS weekend sweep for DXDT Racing in the SRO3 class.
In Masters, Charlie Luck drove into a class win in his No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 -R 991.2 on his way to the second position overall.
In the GT4 class, Rotek Racing’s Rob Holland drove his No. 99 Ford Mustang GT4 to the top of the podium after a race-long battle with Classic BMW’s Phil Bloom and Stephen Cameron Racing’s Sean Quinlan, with GMG Racing’s Jason Bell applying pressure to the group.
Under cold morning temperatures, warmed-up tires were the concern of the morning at the race’s start. A few inconsequential bumps and rubs later, competitors were ready to trust the tires and charge forward.
In the GT3 field, Kurtz was able to parlay the pole position into an excellent start that put him out front early. It then became a battle with the second- and third-place qualifiers, Jason Harward and Master Class polesitter Luck.
The two exchanged positions several times during the race while fending off challenging runs from Rearden Racing’s Jeff Burton in the No. 191 Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
By the middle of the race a full-course yellow due to errant track debris allowed the field to pack up and prepare for another run for the checkered, but Kurtz managed another excellent restart and was away to run the remaining six minutes building another lead.
Luck, unable to catch Kurtz, ended up first in class and second at the checkered, with Harward completing the weekend GT3 podium in third place.
In Masters, Burton managed to put together a decent run for both overall and Master Class positioning but ended up behind teammate Dimitiri Novikov at the drop of the checkered.
The GT4 contingent proved to be a competitive bunch as the undulating field positions of the grid started at the drop of the green and continued through the restart after the full-course yellow.
Holland and Bloom battled for top positioning after the restart, with race one winner Quinlan close enough to be a worry and Bell behind him, making it a possible four-way battle for first.
Several minutes ticked off from the remaining six after the restart when driving and mechanical incidents struck, including slowing from Tim Pappas and a late-race spin from Ross Chouest.
At the checkered, it was Holland, Bloom and Quinlan that took the podium positions in class and just denied Bell his second podium of the weekend in his new platform.