A three-hour battle came down to tenths of a second. Mikael Grenier holds off Frederik Schandorff to score the win at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday to start the 2026 season.

SRO America made a big chance to the weekend format for 2026. Instead of two 90-minute races, GT World Challenge America powered by AWS will now run a single three-hour race. If the season opener is any indication, this format will be greatly received.

Unfortunately, the field shrunk before the start. The #50 Chouest Povoledo Corvette did not start, leaving us with eighteen cars for the race. From the pole, Michai Stephens led the field into Turn 1 off the green flag over Alex Sedgwick in the Dollahite Mustang.

BMWs Collide

Surprisingly, the green flag did not last long. Only 10 minutes into the race, Slade Stewart – who had made a great start – got it too hot going into Turn 11. In the line of fire was the other BMW in Pro-Am, Derek DeBoer and the #99 Random Vandals M4. Both went for a spin and DeBoer actually backed into Stewart and sent the Pink Riley Racing BMW around again. DeBoer managed to get going again and Random Vandals managed to repair the car to keep it competitive. Riley, however, was not as fortunate as the #14 BMW suffered damage too great and done for the day.

After a quick full course yellow to restore order and clean up any debris, the race went back to green. The race would go green all the way to the checkered flag.

Pit Strategy Wrinkles

If you have followed SRO in any of their series, you know the organization loves to make rules to make things interesting. GT World Challenge America will be no different. For the three-hour format this season, stints can go a maximum fifty minutes. Bronze rated drivers must drive a minimum seventy-five minutes. Finally, cars must complete a minimum pit lane time – which will vary at each circuit – pit in to pit out.

This made for varying strategies hoping to keep the races close. Most, if not all teams, decided to just switch drivers out at every pit stop. Some teams short pitted to maximize driver stint time. Because of pace, some teams could go longer while others were forced to pit earlier than expected. One example of this was at the end of the first stint. Michai Stephens and Alex Sedgwick went a lap longer than the rest of the field on similar strategy due to their pace.

Banging Doors

At times, the racing got quite intense. Perhaps no moment was more intense than around the halfway mark. At the 1 hour 22 minute mark, a highly contested battle emerged in the Esses between Mads Siljehaug and Justin Rothberg. The Turner BMW appeared to chop off the Norwegian newcomer, sending him to the dirt. Siljehaug was having none of it as the Pro-Am Lambo pulled alongside the Pro class BMW. The resulting contact ricocheted Rothburg into the dirt.

Fortunately, neither car suffered major damage and Rothburg saw it as a perfect time to bring his #29 Turner BMW to the pits. The officials did review the situation, but dismissed as nothing more than a racing incident…carry on, lads.

Climatic Conclusion

Dane Frederik Schandorff was fast for AF Corse USA in their Ferrari since he hopped in with an hour forty minutes to go. He kept Canadian Mercedes factory driver Mikael Grenier honest his entire stint. Schandorff chased down Grenier from over six seconds back to get back to the rear bumper of the JMF Mercedes.

Indeed, strategy would also play a hand in the final hour. Schandorff and AF Corse USA decided to undercut with 50 minutes to go for their final pit stop using the max stint time. Whether it was planned or not, Grenier came the following lap to cover the Ferrari. The plan worked to perfection for Grenier and JMF. The Canadian maintained the lead and kept pushing. While Grenier attempted to pull away, Schandorff kept him honest managing the gap maxing out at three seconds. While Schandorff got it down to one second before the end, that’s all the Dane could do.

Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier dominated the race from pole going on to win the first round of the new GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season.

Other Class Winners

Tom Sargeant pulled away from the field to score victory for he and Kyle Washington in the Pro-Am class with their GMG Racing Porsche. In the Am class, AF Corse duo of Jay Schriebman and Oswaldo Negri scored the win in their Ferrari.

On To Texas

The SRO America program and GT World Challenge America powered by AWS heads east. With the season now underway, the series will next convene at Circuit of the Americas in Austin. GT World Texas takes place April 24-26.

Headline Photo: The #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes AMG-GT3 Photo Courtesy: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Motorsports Group