Koch Makes Late Pass for Dramatic Sonoma Race 2 Win

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Kenton Koch gave Random Vandals Racing its first GT World Challenge America powered by AWS victory following a dramatic pass around Alex Sedgwick for the lead with two laps to go in Sunday’s second round of the weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

Koch, in the No. 99 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, got aside the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Sedgwick in the uphill Turn 1-2-3 complex and muscled his way past the Englishman, who led the majority of the second half of the race.

The PT Autosport-backed driver, in his first GTWC America weekend, emerged as the leader following the mid-race pit stops and looked to be en route to a clear-cut win after passing George Kurtz for the overall lead with 30 minutes to go.

However, an accident for the No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jay Schreibman resulted in the race’s one-and-only caution and bunched up the Pro class contenders, including Koch and the third-placed No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Michai Stephens.

Sedgwick and co-driver Jan Heylen were forced to finish second, with Race 1 winners Stephens and Mikael Grenier completing the overall and Pro class podium.

Bill Auberlen came home fourth overall in the No. 51 Random Vandals BMW that he shared with Varun Choksey, who started from the rear of the field after electrical issues in qualifying.

Regulator Racing came out on top in the Pro-Am class, with Philip Ellis taking the No. 91 Mercedes-AMG to a fifth place overall result.

Ellis passed the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG of Kurtz for the lead with 16 minutes to go and managed to gap more than 15 seconds by the line.

It came after co-driver Jeff Burton started on the front row of the grid and ran solidly in the top-ten during his opening reverse driver stint.

Kurtz held onto finish second following Colin Braun’s commanding early race drive, with the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW of Justin Rothberg and Robby Foley completing the class podium in third.

The No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jason Daskalos was fourth in Pro-Am, after a last-lap battle with the No. 16 AF Corse Ferrari of Allam Khodair, who was forced to settle for fifth.

RESULTS: Race 2