Three Entry GMG Racing Effort Ready to Resume 2024 SRO America Season this Weekend at VIR
Ready to roll after SRO America's two-month break from competition, GMG Racing and its three-car and three-driver entry of Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS and GT America powered by AWS contenders returns to VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) for a full weekend of racing that kicks off the second half of the 2024 season at VIR, July 19 - 21.
First-year co-drivers Kyle Washington and Tom Sargent look to start the stretch-run of the year's final-four race events with season-best Fanatec GT World Challenge America finishes this weekend in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Washington also drives solo in a second No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R alongside teammate CJ Moses in his No. 58 GMG Racing/CrowdStrike/AWS Audi R8 LMS GT2 in this weekend's pair of GT America powered by AWS sprint races.
Washington and Sargent raced to a pair of season-best fourth-place Pro-Am-class finishes in early May at Sebring International Raceway, and reaching the podium in the doubleheader 90-minute GT World Challenge races is the main goal this weekend. In their corner will be a brand new Type 992 Porsche 911 GT3 R that will be the team's primary GT World Challenge mount for the rest of the season.
The 992 Porsche 911 GT3 R Washington and Sargent shared in the year's first three races now shifts to GT America where Washington will use it as his new primary car in that series. The 992's GT America arrival is well timed as Washington still rides the lingering momentum of a season-best second-place finish in the final 40-minute GT America race in May at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the last SRO America event weekend before SRO America's traditional early-summer pause.
"We definitely had some momentum going with Kyle in not only SRO America competition but several others series as well throughout May," said GMG Racing Founder and Team Principal James Sofronas. "Kyle and Tom had their best GT World Challenge America results in just their second race weekend together at Sebring. Then Kyle won a Porsche Sprint Challenge West Masters class race in Utah the week before his season-best GT America runner-up finish at COTA in the last race before SRO America's annual break. Having a new car, like the 992 No. 32 Porsche 911 GT3 R, always brings some energy with it, and I have no doubts all of that momentum will come right back to Kyle, Tom and everybody on the team once we get back on track in Virginia."
Moses makes his second race-weekend start of the season at VIR after making his 2024 debut last April in the GT America doubleheader at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Moses earned a trip to Long Beach victory lane for the EBOOST Hard Charger Award for improving the most positions in Sunday's race. He races uncontested in the GT2 class this weekend but will make the most of the VIR opportunity with some valuable seat time and on-track experience racing with both the top-tier GT3 competitors and the slower but still quick competitors in the GT4 class.
"My home track is VIR and it's actually where I started my on track experience as a novice student with the Audi Club in 2000," Moses said. "It is my favorite track for much the same reason as Paul Newman mentioned: it feels like heaven on earth! I enjoy it so much that my wife and I have contracted for one of the new Villas outside Turn 10. Having experience at the track and in the Audi GT2 allows me to focus on continuous improvement and enjoy the rolling countryside as fast as possible!"
Moses secured overall sixth and seventh place finishes in the GT2 Audi at VIR in 2022 after mixing it up with and even leading some GT3 competitors to the finish line in both races.
"It's always a tough schedule for CJ to balance his busy work calendar with racing, but he had a good run at Long Beach in April and this is his third-straight year of being able to compete with us in the Audi R8 LMS GT2 at VIR," Sofronas said. "That type of year-to-year continuity at a track is important for any driver, and we look forward to helping CJ continue to improve on what has been some steady progress over the years on his home track. Last year's VIR race was a challenging weekend, but CJ was knocking on the door of an overall top-five two years ago and we will do all we can to help him mirror and even improve on that performance this weekend."
The VIR race weekend also marks a milestone for GMG Racing, Sofronas, and his wife, Nargis Sofronas, as the family business is extending into the next generation with the national racing series debut of their son, Jenson Sofronas, in the Toyota Gazoo Racing North America (TGRNA) GR Cup Series. The younger Sofronas, under the watchful eye of his championship-winning father, tested the GMG Racing GR86 Cup Toyota last month at VIR and took the initial steps to earn a racing license in a USAC on-track testing and evaluation program at the Utah Motorsports Campus in May. Jenson Sofronas, 13, drives the No. 41 GMG Racing Toyota GR86 Cup in a GMG Racing collaboration with series race-winning team Lucas Racing.
All of the weekend's racing action from VIR is livestreamed on SRO's GT World channel on YouTube.com, beginning with the first 40-minute GT America race Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT straight through the second 90-minute Fanatec GT World Challenge race that closes out the weekend on Sunday with a 2:15 p.m. EDT green flag