Sofronas battles to a second place finish in Toronto
July 20, 2010 (Santa Ana, Calif.) – Getting back on form after a lackluster round at Watkins Glen, James Sofronas powered the No. 14 GMG Porsche 911 GT3 WC from his fourth place starting position to finish second at this weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge held on the temporary circuit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The GMG Racing Porsches had shown speed throughout the race weekend, in which World Challenge ran as a support race for the IZOD IndyCar Series. Behind Sofronas’ fourth-placed qualifying effort, Dino Crescentini qualified the No. 4 GMG / Stoptech Porsche 911 GT3 WC in fifth, while William Ziegler qualified the No. 05 GMG / Swisher Porsche 911 GT3 WC in twelfth.

Sofronas had a lightening quick standing start, getting away from the green lights and up into third place in the first corner before oubraking Andy Pilgrim’s Volvo S60 into turn three to take over second place. For his opening-lap heroics, Sofronas earned the Optima Batteries’ Best Standing Start award. After a full-course yellow, Sofronas spent the rest of the race hounding race leader Randy Pobst in his Volvo, especially as the two made their way through lapped traffic. Meanwhile, Crescentini was embroiled in a battle of his own for the third spot, and for a while it looked as though there may be two GMG Porsches on the podium in Toronto.

In the hot and slippery conditions, Sofronas was unable to make an impression on Pobst’s four-wheel-drive Volvo and crossed the finish line in second place. Crescentini would ultimately finish in fifth, while Ziegler retired from the race after the alternator belt in his powerplant failed.

GMG is continuously testing new components on their team cars, and the strong result in Toronto came after the most recent round of aerodynamic updates to the team’s Porsches.

“The car was really strong all weekend,” said Sofronas. “This is the benefit of our team doing continuous R&D on and off the track. We really nailed the launch control and that helped us get up to second on the first lap, but after that it’s really hard to get past the Volvos with their four-wheel-drive in slippery conditions. The traffic made things interesting but Randy didn’t make any mistakes, and our Stoptech brakes worked unbelievably well and kept us in the hunt.

“It feels great to be on the podium and I wanted this result for our crew, since they have been working so hard and doing a great job each weekend. Our goal is to win at least half of the remaining races and to secure the third-straight Manufacturers Championship for Porsche!”

Crescentini currently sits third in the World Challenge GT points standings, with Sofronas in fourth, and Zielger in thirteenth.

The next event for World Challenge will be August 6-8, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The broadcast of the Acura Sports Car Challenge from Toronto will air on VERSUS July 31, 2010, 3:00 PM ET - 5:00 PM ET.

About GMG Racing

Headquartered in Orange County, California, GMG is one of the country’s premier performance shops for European cars. In addition to being a top racing team that competes in Speed World Challenge, American Le Mans and Patron GT3 Challenge, GMG also supports its customer base at local club races and track events across N. America. To learn more about GMG and its line of performance parts and service for Porsches as well as other European cars, visit www.gmgracing.com

About Swisher International

Swisher International produces mass-market large cigars, such as Swisher Sweets, King Edward, and Optimo; premium cigars such as Dominican Hallmark and Casino Gold; and little cigars (cigarillos), which also use the Swisher Sweets and King Edward brand names. It also makes smokeless tobacco products. Its moist and dry snuff offerings include the Silver Creek, Redwood, and Kayak brands; loose-leaf chewing tobacco sells under the Mail Pouch, Lancaster, and Chattanooga Chew names. For more information, visit swisher.com

About StopTech

Stoptech is the ultra performance division of Centric Parts, a leading innovator of world class brake components and systems for production-based racing cars and high performance vehicles on the street and track. For more information, visit - stoptech.com

 

That's awesome. Congrats to Fabryce and James @ GMG and thanks to DJ for sponsoring them!

 

#14 is my lucky number too and the gt3 is my fav cup car, get any better then that?

 

lol, wish I could get that on my cup. Sounds like a sweet deal.

 

Awesome, great job guys!

Anymore pictures at the track?