SRO America is set to kick off their 2026 campaign this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. This is the first of seven race weekends throughout the season. Series set to take part this weekend include GT America, TC America, Pirelli GT4 America, McLaren Trophy America and Toyota GR Cup North America. All these series help aid the main event of GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.

As previously mentioned, GT World Challenge America will undertake a revised race format for 2026. All races will 3 hours with the exception of the season finale 8 Hours of Indianapolis in October. 20 teams will take part in this weekend’s season opener in Sonoma. When the full-season entry list was announced earlier this month, there were some TBAs particularly on the driver front. Now we have arrived at race weekend, some of those questions are being answered.

For their step up to Pro, Dollahite Racing has called the services of Alex Sedgwick and Cameron Lawrence for their #6 Mustang. Over at AF Corse USA, Danish driver Frederik Schandorff is on the driving strength with Matias Perez Companc in their #12 Pro class Ferrari 296. All other driver lineups appear as posted in the pre-season entry list.

Updates & Class Counts

Nevertheless, as we mention the full season entry list, there are absences and changes for the weekend. There are two no-shows in the form of the Lone Star Racing Mercedes and the Rebel Rock Aston Martin. Simultaneously, the Chicago Performance Lamborghini will move from Pro (on the initial entry list) to Pro-Am for Sonoma.

In effect, this shifts the class breakdowns. Pro sees only five entries and one in Am with the balance of the field in Pro-Am class. Regrettably, we are down to 19 cars before the weekend begins in earnest. On Wednesday, the #88 Kellymoss Porsche of John Gilliland and Loek Hartog crashed during testing. Consequently, the damage suffered was beyond repair and the car will take no further part in the weekend.

Quality and Not Quantity…

Despite the removal of the Kellymoss Porsche, the field is still stacked everywhere you look from top to bottom. Colin Braun, Tom Sargeant, Robby Foley and Jan Heylen are names you are very well familiar with. One guy who could make a name for himself this weekend is Will Bamber. The younger brother of Cadillac factory driver Earl, Will is no stranger to GT3 racing. He has been building his name stateside with wins in Lamborghini Super Trofeo in 2025 and sweeping last week’s opening round in Sebring. If co-driver Brayton Williams hands him their #9 TR3 Mercedes in a formidable position, watch out.

Another younger brother to keep an eye on is Hampus Ericsson. Hampus is the younger brother of former Indy 500 champ Marcus. Like Will Bamber, the younger Ericsson is also stepping up to GT3 from single-make series. The defending Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America co-champion will be co-driving alongside Derek De Boer in the Pro-Am class Random Vandals Racing BMW. Hampus has shown he has speed in category he competes in but sportscar is clearly his niche. Looking forward to watching him develop in his first proper shot in major league sportscar racing.

Beyond the professional drivers, the amateurs can also hold their own. Todd Coleman, the aforementioned Derek de Boer and Kyle Washington are all returning and shown in recent years they are well capable of holding their own on track. Yes, they are here for the fun but don’t tell me these guys don’t take their driving time on track seriously. They are as hungry to win here as they are to excel in their businesses.

Ok…maybe there is quantity…

In addition to the quality of pro drivers that can light up and make these races exciting, we cannot ignore the quantity of manufacturers present. Eight different makes will be represented out in wine country this weekend. This speaks to the longevity of the GT3 formula SRO created in Europe over twenty years ago. It also speaks to how important manufacturers see the GT World Challenge global manufacturer championship that they are able to place their cars on grid here for this seven-round series.

On-Track Schedule (all times PT)

Friday will see the first of two races on the weekend for both TC America and Pirelli GT4 America. GT4 kicks off the action at 2pm with TC America following at 5:15pm. All other series will be having practice and qualifying sessions.

Saturday has a full slate of racing action. TC America starts the day off with Race 2 at 9:40am. GT4 then has their second race at 1:00pm. McLaren Trophy America will have Race 1 at 3:05pm quickly followed by Race 1 of GR Cup at 4:15pm. The day’s racing action concludes with Race 1 of GT America at 5:20pm.

Sunday will kick off bright and early with GR Cup and GTWC America qualifying, starting at 8am. The busy race slate begins with Race 2 of McLaren Trophy at 9:50am followed in quick session by Race 2 of both GT America (11am) and GR Cup (12pm). This all leads up to the main event, the 3 Hour race for GT World Challenge America with race start set for 1:45pm.

You can catch all the racing action streaming Live on the GT World YouTube Channel. In the US, race highlight packages will be shown on FS1. Check listings for air dates.

Stay tuned to GT REPORT as we will have on-track notebooks and coverage of GT World Challenge America throughout the weekend.