James Sofronas, of Villa Park, CA, led Thursday’s second practice session in GT for Round 13 of the Pirelli World Challenge 2013 season, the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sonoma, part of the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma weekend. Andy Lee, of Colorado Springs, CO, led the GTS class.
Sofronas, driver of the No. 14 GMG/Swisher Racing/Mobil 1 Audi R8 LMS, set a best time of 1:36.233 around the 1.99-mile Sonoma Raceway. The California native did not race at Sonoma last year and enters the weekend trailing Johnny O’Connell by only 13 points for the GT class championship lead.
“We’re all feeling out this track and there was a tremendous change in conditions,” said Sofronas, noting the 13-degree ambient temperature jump from 57 degrees in the morning to 70 in the afternoon. “We have good pace, but I know the pole will be in the low (1-minute) 35s or high 34s. It’s the championship run these last two races, and we’ll give 100 percent effort to help beat the Cadillacs and Volvos.”
The aforementioned O’Connell, of Flowery Branch, GA in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.R, clocked in third at 1:36.794. Splitting the two title contenders was Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, GA, in the No. 6 Alex’s Lemonade Stand K-PAX Racing Volvo S60 at 1:36.364.
Of note, Elton Julian, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, set the fourth fastest time at 1:36.972 in the FIA GT3-spec No. 80 DragonSpeed, LLC Audi R8 LMS Ultra. This is Julian’s first Pirelli World Challenge start and marks a return to drive at Sonoma for the first time in more than 20 years.
“This is huge for everyone involved,” Julian said. “It’s a chance to see a proper GT3 car; (Kevin) Buckler has one as well (Aston Martin GT3 for TRG). Everyone can get over the fact that they think they are miles quicker. They are homologated to go a certain speed. Here, you have things like open shocks and you can make a bit of development. It’s a great opportunity and environment here in Pirelli World Challenge; a bit like the old days for me, camping out and making it happen.”
There were two other GT notes. Alex Figge, of Denver, CO, defending Sonoma race winner and double winner at Mid-Ohio three weeks ago, ran the second practice session in the backup car. An engine change is taking place on the primary No. 9 Alex’s Lemonade Stand K-PAX Racing Volvo S60 and the goal is to have that car ready to go in time for Friday’s sessions.
GTS saw Lee, in the No. 20 Best IT/Bondurant/Crown Seven Chevrolet Camaro set the fastest time at 1:43.429. Lee has a class-high five pole positions in 2013 and is the defending GTS class winner at Sonoma.
“It seemed like the track, if anything, stayed even from the morning to later today,” Lee said of the conditions. “The only reason we got quicker is that we made some changes and the setup was a lot better than this morning.”
Lee described some of the areas where the Camaro excels at Sonoma.
“I think StopTech Brakes are phenomenal on the Camaro, but what it does better here than most is that it uses all the torque, and gets off the corners so well,” Lee said.
GTS class points leader Jack Baldwin, of Marietta, GA was second in the No. 73 Motul/StopTech/Foametix Porsche Cayman S (1:43.523) and Peter Cunningham, of Milwaukee, WI, was third in the No. 42 Acura/HPD/RealTime Racing Acura TSX (1:43.632).
A third practice for Round 13 of GT/GTS is the next on-track session for the two classes. It will be held at 6:00 p.m. EST/3:00 p.m. PST and local time on Friday.
Source : Pirelli World Challenge