Jason Harward Wins Incident Filled GT America Race 2 in Sonoma
Jason Harward in his #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 won Race 2 of the GT America powered by AWS at Sonoma Raceway, a race strewn with multiple Safety Car interventions and incidents. Second-generation driver Hutton McKenna took his first GT4 class in the #30 Wright Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
Unlike Saturday’s GT America race, which began under rainy conditions, today’s weather was sunny, and beautiful. It was also quite cold, which led Jose DaSilva to spin out on the formation lap in his #67 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4.
When the race got going, Harward led the field to green, while Mirco Shultis in the #70 MISHUMOTORS Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R dropped from second on the grid to fourth after the opening lap – behind the #27 Daskalos Motorsports Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Jason Daskalos in second, and Utah’s Jeff Burton in the #191 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini in third. At the end of the first lap, Shultis was hit from behind at the turn nine chicane by the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of George Kurtz, sending him spinning down the order.
Meanwhile in GT4, Steve Dinan – officially the GT4 winner in race one – got a massive jump on the field on the first lap in his #930 CarBahn by Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4, ahead of Chris Cagnazzi in the #39 Cameron Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4. But by the end of the lap, Dinan was slowing dramatically, and the #888 Zelus Motorsports Vantage GT4 of Sean Whalen – who crashed out of Race 1 – completed the first lap as the leader. Whalen’s time as the “lion” of the field wouldn’t last, as Cagnazzi would retake the lead from lap two.
Dinan’s car, already rapidly losing pace, suddenly ground to a halt, as did the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage GT4 at Elias Sabo coming out of turn eight. A Full Course Yellow, and later a Safety Car, was deployed to retrieve both cars. Bryan Putt in the #15 BSport Racing Vantage GT4 also stopped on track, and Gray Newell in the #25 Heart of Racing Vantage GT4 suffered heavy front end damage after a separate incident.
After over 15 minutes under the Safety Car, the race appeared to get going again with Harward leading Daskalos, and Kurtz getting a big jump to overtake Burton for third. In GT4, McKenna took the lead from Cagnazzi.
But no sooner than when the race restarted, it was put back under Safety Car when the #21 Accelerating Performance GR Supra of Nick Shanny crashed into the #19 NOLASPORT Cayman of Alain Stad going up to turn two; Whalen also spun out at the same point just moments before.
The race came down to a six-minute sprint to the chequered flag. Shultis had recovered after his first-lap incident with Kurtz, and was putting pressure on Burton for fourth. It would become a fight for the last place on the podium after Kurtz was hit with a drive-through penalty, deemed to have jumped the restart after the first Safety Car.
Back in GT4, second place Cagnazzi was under pressure from a queue of challengers led by Jason Bell (#2 GMG Racing Vantage GT4), Ross Chouest (#50 Chouest Povoledo Vantage GT4), Adam Adelson (#120 Premier Racing Cayman), and Robb Holland (#99 Rotek Racing Cayman).
Harward was able to dash away from Daskalos, setting his fastest lap on lap 16 in the final minutes. In the end, he won the race by a comfortable margin of 5.6 seconds for his first SRO3 class win of the GT America season.
Race 1 winner Daskalos completed his strong weekend with a runner-up finish, while Burton was able to hold off Shultis for the last place on the podium. The #37 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 of Justin Wetherill finished fifth in class and overall, while Kurtz dropped to tenth overall after his penalty, sixth in his class.
McKenna was able to check out and take his first GT4 class win of the season, atoning for losing a Race 1 podium due to a jump start penalty. He won his class by 5.8 seconds.
Cagnazzi held off the queue behind him to finish a close second in class, half a second ahead of Bell, who rounded out the GT4 podium. Chouest, Adelson, and Holland were fourth through sixth in that order.
Moisey Uretsky (#55 Accelerating Performance GR Supra) was seventh in class, Mirko Radisic (#22 SRQ Motorsports BMW M4 GT4) was eighth, DaSilva recovered from his pace lap spin to finish ninth, and Whalen did a fair job to finish tenth in an eventful race.
Images © Brian Cleary, Fabian Lagunas / SRO
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