Sofronas Leads Practice 1 in Long Beach

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

James Sofronas led the way in the opening GT America powered by AWS practice session of the weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

While Sofronas was consistently near the top of the times, a late improvement on his final attempts saw the GMG Racing driver pace the field with a 1:21.158 lap in his No. 14 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVOII ahead of DXDT Racing’s Blake McDonald, just 0.136 seconds behind.

Third-quickest overall was GMG’s Patrick Mulcahy in the No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Gray Newell’s No. 24 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo finished fourth for the Heart of Racing Team.

Elias Sabo rounded out the top five SRO3 times for Flying Lizard Motorsports in his BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Adrian Kunzle topped the GT2 times in his No. 142 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, after fellow class competitor CJ Moses did not turn any laps in the morning session.

Fast Track Racing’s Judson Holt was the quickest of the three GT4 cars present in Long Beach ahead of Random Vandals Racing’s Paul Sparta.

Current SRO3 points leader George Kurtz stopped on track in Sector 2 on his second practice lap but did not interrupt running in the 30-minute session.

Ricco Shlaimoun also failed to turn laps in his No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

Practice 2 is slated for 11:40 a.m. PST, followed by qualifying at 4:35 p.m. PST.

RESULTS: Practice 1