GT America: CrowdStrike, Kurtz, JTR and McIntosh win in Race 1

Saturday’s Race 1 for the GT America series at Sonoma Raceway was clean from start to finish as George Kurtz put on an utterly dominant performance in the SRO3 class, claiming the first win of the season. JTR Motorsports Engineering’s own Anthony McIntosh scored the victory in the GT4 category and maintained a healthy lead all the way through.

SRO3 class

It was an excellent start for George Kurtz, who started from pole position in his No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3, and proceeded to speed away and build a gap to the rest of the field.

It didn’t take long for a battle to start brewing for the remaining podium positions, with Mirco Schultis in the No. 70 MISHUMOTORS Callaway Corvette Z06R GT3 feeling some early pressure from Marc Muzzo in the No. 13 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 as he sought to snatch away third place. Meanwhile, Justin Rothberg was also entering the picture with his No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

As the race progressed, Schultis started to pull away, instead setting his sights on Elias Sabo who was running in second on board the No. 80 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 EVO. With just over ten minutes to go, GT4 class traffic came into play, bringing the two even closer together, but Sabo was able to maintain his advantage.

Kurtz went on to take the checkered flag in superb fashion, storming to victory with a massive lead. Sabo held strong and firmly finished in second place, with Schultis rounding off the podium in third.

“The CrowdStrike guys and Riley gave me a great car,” said Kurtz at the podium celebrations. “It was a clean race, I had a great start. It was all about controlling the pace. I had no issues, no incidents and was able to claim the fastest lap. It couldn’t have gone any better. We’re hoping for a repeat tomorrow.”

GT4 class

It was total domination for Anthony McIntosh in the No. 69 JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2, as he took the green flag from first place and held position the entire race all the way to the checkered flag. While the remaining class competitors attempted to close the gap, he focused on the road ahead and was consistently able to maintain his advantage.

Though McIntosh was in a comfortable position, a great battle was shaping up behind him. Matt Travis, commanding the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, fell from second place in the opening laps, enabling Max Hewitt to move ahead in the No. 39 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO. From there, the chase was on as the two continued to run nose-to-tail throughout each and every lap.

While it was smooth sailing for McIntosh, who claimed the opening victory of the season, it was a thrilling drag race to the line between Hewitt and Travis, while the former managed to keep his car just inches ahead to keep his grasp on P2, with Travis completing the podium.

“ Toyota has been so great, and my coach and teammate Parker Thompson, who I’ve raced with before and with whom we’ve won some championships, had told me: ‘Hey, we should really do this. The Toyota Supra is a fantastic car,” McIntosh explained after the race. “This car has been truly amazing. We just started driving it, so I’m very new to GT4 and something like this. I’m super stoked, the car is fast. I love it, it’s perfect.”

The GT America powered by AWS will return to the track for Race 2 on Sunday morning at 9:25am PT.

If you can’t make it to Sonoma Raceway, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTSonoma.