Memo Gidley Holds On For Race 1 Victory In Sonoma
Memo Gidley held off the relentless pressure from Adam Adelson to win GT America powered by AWS Race 1 from Sonoma Raceway, for his second consecutive win of the 2023 season.
21 cars took the start of Saturday’s race, whittled down from the 26 entries at the start of the weekend. The #011 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Marc Austin was scratched after a practice accident, and TKO Motorsports owner David Traitel’s #102 Bentley Continental GT3 was a regrettable late scratch. DXDT Racing and TR3 Racing used GT America Practice and Qualifying to get additional track time for amateur drivers Scott Smithson, Jeff Burton, and Ziad Ghandour.
Adelson won the pole in Qualifying earlier in the day, but the experienced Gidley was able to pounce at the drop of the green flag, sweeping around the outside of turn one in his #101 TKO Motorsports Mercedes. Adelson slotted into second in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (991.2), ahead of reigning champion George Kurtz in the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes.
For most of the race, the gap between Gidley and Adelson would expand and contract, especially when tyre degradation traffic from slower GT4 cars came into play. Adelson got within half a second or less in the closing laps, but Gidley was able to hold on and take the SRO3 class win at the venue where his comeback to sports car racing began in 2017.
“This is unbelievably special,” exclaimed Gidley after the race. “TKO Motorsports and David Traitel did an excellent job at putting this program together and have been instrumental in helping me live my dream and race in my prime. It feels good to bring home the win, especially as this is the first race that my two-year-old daughter has been able to attend. This is where I come from, and it’s simply unreal to be in victory lane in front of local fan and friends at my home track. Thank you very much to the team!”
Adelson would take a hard-earned second place finish in his first GT America race in the SRO3 category, and with the fastest lap of the race, he will start on pole position for Race 2 tomorrow morning. Kurtz rounded out the SRO3 podium, leading an armada of Mercedes – the #27 CRP Racing entry of Jason Daskalos, the #427 RealTime Racing car of Anthony Bartone, and the #41 CRP Racing car of Todd Treffert, another driver making his season debut.
In contrast to two races on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, which were riddled with crashes and Safety Cars, this first race at Sonoma ran from green to chequered with no major incidents – a much better showcase of all-amateur multi-class racing.
Robb Holland in the #099 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport got off to a great start to his 2023 campaign, leading every lap from pole position to take the GT4 class win.
The #2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 of Jason Bell made his way up to second place early on and consolidated the position to extend his lead in the championship table. Behind him, defending GT4 class champion Ross Chouest was third in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin, after getting past Todd Coleman in the #069 Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin for the final podium position in class.
Coleman was able to hold on to fourth, Elias Sabo was fifth in the #8 Flying Lizard Aston Martin, and Gray Newell was sixth in the #25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin.
Holland will start on pole position in his class tomorrow, hoping for a weekend sweep.
GT America Race 2 starts bright and early Sunday morning at 8:55 AM PDT.
Images © Brian Cleary / SRO Motorsports America
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