Capestro-Dubets, Chinnici Win First Trophy America Race

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

John Capestro-Dubets and Andrew Chinnici converted pole position into an inaugural McLaren Trophy America victory at Sonoma Raceway for GMG Racing in the debut of McLaren’s new Artura Trophy Evo race cars and its unique push-to-pass system.

Chinnici led the 15-car field to green in his Pro-Am class No. 4 GMG Artura with Am-class stablemate James Sofronas behind after an extra formation lap was added by race control to help competitors get brake and tire temperatures up in cooler conditions.

Sofronas’s second-place position came under pressure at the start from James Li’s “Lightning McLaren”-liveried No. 74 Pro-class RWE Motorsport Artura, who used his push-to-pass to take over second just before the field fell under its only full-course caution and later took the lead before the mandatory round of pit stops took place.

The No. 74 RWE crew maintained their advantage over the field after Li handed the car over to co-driver Casey Dennis, who assumed the lead of the field once the pit cycle played out.

Out of the pits, Capestro-Dubets closed in on Dennis in the No. 4 GMG McLaren he took over from Chinnici after the RWE driver lost ground in traffic.

Capestro-Dubets pounced and took the lead with under ten minutes remaining to bring the pole-sitting GMG machine back to the front of the field, where he would lead until the checkered flag fell.

Dennis and Li finished runner-up and took the Pro class win in the process over fellow RWE competitors Andrew Davis and John Dempsey, who took the final overall podium position.

Sofronas lost ground after a slow pit stop, dropping him down the order to sixth overall.

This promoted Colin Harrison to the Am class lead once he exited the pits in his No. 21 TechSport Artura. Harrison held the Am class lead until the checkered flag to take the class victory, finishing fourth overall.

Sofronas rounded out the top five and took second in Am.

A late-race charge from 2023 McLaren Trophy Europe champion Tommy Pintos saw him climb up the order and into the overall top five, before stopping on track in Sector 1 on the final lap in his Pro-class No. 919 Artura.

The No. 43 Motorsports In Action McLaren of Alexandra Hainer spun at Turn 11, triggering a brief safety car with just over 37 minutes to go. Hainer was able to get her car going again under her own power, but would not take the restart.

Multiple cars were handed a variety of penalties for infractions during their pit stops, with Hooper Street Racing’s No. 56 Artura incurring a 30-second stop-and-hold penalty for speeding in pit lane.

RP Motorsports by Forte Racing’s No. 53 entry of Kevin Madsen and Neil Langberg was also caught speeding in the pits and was subsequently handed a drive-through penalty.

The No. 17 Riley Motorsports machine also had to make an extra trip down pit lane for a stop-and-go penalty for their pit lane speed, and later collected a marginal 0.92-second time penalty for a short pit stop.

Flying Lizard Motorsports’ No. 3 entry and the No. 49 OMS car of Stephen Sorbaro were also penalized for pit stop infractions throughout the race.

Qualifying for Race 2 takes place Sunday morning at 8:20 a.m. PST followed by the race at 10:25 a.m., the latter of which will be available on SRO’s GT World and McLaren Automotive’s YouTube channels.

RESULTS: Race 1