2023 GT4 America Season Opens With 43-Car Entry At Sonoma

A new logo isn’t the only thing that’s changed for the upcoming 2023 Pirelli GT4 America season, which starts this weekend at Sonoma Raceway in California. The fluidity of customer racing programmes up and down the SRO America umbrella has given GT4 America a strong grid of 43 cars for its season-opening round.

Two 60-minute races are on tap for 1-2 April, with the 43-car field divided into three classes based on maximum driver categorisation – Silver, Pro-Am, and Am.

GT4AM PROVISIONAL ENTRY LIST >>

Like in GT World Challenge America where K-PAX Racing has departed the series to pursue new challenges in GT World Challenge Europe, the reigning Silver class champions in GT4 America have graduated. Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer are taking their talents up to GT World Challenge America after a dominant season with 11 class wins (ten overall race wins) in 14 races.

The brand-new BMW M4 GT4 (G82) features prominently in the nine-car Silver class entry for Sonoma – with Auto Technic Racing (John Dubets/Zac Anderson), STR38 Motorsports (Jon Miller/Chandler Hull), and Random Vandals Racing (Kevin Boehm/Kenton Koch) all premiering BMW’s newest machine in GT4 America.

Connecticut’s Auto Technic Racing have already put the new M4 through its paces not only in pre-season testing but in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with team regulars Anderson and Dubets, the latter of whom was a Pro-Am class contender throughout 2022.

STR38 Motorsports are the offshoot of Samantha Tan’s eponymous team that competes in GT World Challenge America – with a pedigree of previous championship success in GT4 America, and two capable drivers including Hull, a likely contender for the GT World Challenge America title this year.

Random Vandals Racing will pair GT4 newcomer Boehm – and the lucrative sponsorship from CrowdStrike – with Koch, a Daytona 24 Hours class winner who swept last season’s races at Sonoma in the Pro-Am category.

2022 Silver championship runners-up Conquest Racing with JMF Motorsports return as the likely favourites. Michai Stephens has returned to pilot the #34 Mercedes-AMG GT4 but has a new team-mate in Canadian teenager Jesse Webb.

There will be three Toyota GR Supra GT4s in the Silver class: Smooge Racing, NASCAR Cup Series alumnus Kevin Conway, and John Geesbreght return to pilot their #68 car. New to GT4 America are Copeland Motorsports and the #74 for Tyler Maxson and Tyler Gonzalez, and Hanley Motorsports with the #999 driven by Daniel Hanley and reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America Champion, Parker Thompson.

Porsche has two Silver entries with the latest 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport: Tennessee’s ACI Motorsports fields the #19 for young Francis Selldorff and veteran Andrew Davis, and the new OGH/Valkyrie Velocity team led by Team Hardpoint’s Rob Ferriol, with the #96 for Dominic Starkweather, and Chris Walsh – an active duty Air Force officer, former bobsleigh and superbike racer, and TC America series graduate.

NOLASPORT enter 2023 as the two-time and defending Pro-Am champions in GT4 America. They emerged victorious in a close battle for the title last season. As of today, they’ve yet to announce who will drive their #47 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport at Sonoma.

Pro-Am also features two other new vehicles which make their series debut this weekend. After a successful first outing in Japan, the new Nissan Z GT4 will race in America for the first time. TechSport Racing’s #23 Nissan features Tyler Stone and past GT Academy champion, Bryan Heitkotter, for its maiden outing.

The debut of the new McLaren Artura GT4 also sees the return of Black Swan Racing, a familiar presence throughout multiple levels of GT racing over the years. Owner/driver Tim Pappas, and Jeroen Bleekemolen – one of only two Gold-rated drivers in the field – will drive the new #54 McLaren Artura.

Aston Martin has four Pro-Am customer teams running the Vantage AMR GT4. Leading the way are the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports crew of Elias Sabo and Andy Lee, the team that took a miraculous overall win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last autumn. Chouest Povoledo Racing (#50, Ross Chouest/Aaron Povoledo), Archangel Motorsports (#069, Todd Coleman/Billy Johnson Jnr), and Van der Steur Racing (#428, Brady Behrman/Coby Shield) also feature.

The rest of the Porsche Pro-Am camp includes entries from the aforementioned ACI Motorsports (#7, Curt Swearingin/Kay van Berlo) and OGH/Valkyrie Velocity (#95, Rob Ferriol/Mac Clark), and SP Motorsports (#899, Anderson Tanoto/Jaden Conwright).

Mercedes-AMG is represented by newcomers JTR Motorsports Engineering (#29, Peter Atwater/Luca Mars); Toyota is represented by the new Skip Barber Racing School team (#37, Matt Forbush/Carter Fartuch), and BMW’s Pro-Am representatives are the returning Rooster Hall Racing (#44, Johan Schwartz/Colin Garrett) and BimmerWorld (#82, James Walker Jnr/Tyler McQuarrie).

Finally, there’s an impressive 20-car Am class grid which would be an impressive collection if they raced on their own!

BimmerWorld’s “happy accident” line-up of team founder James Clay and Charlie Postins dominated the category in the previous-generation M4 GT4, a combination formed just before the start of 2022. Clay and Postins return to defend their titles against stiff competition.

Three exceptional young women will make their series debuts in the Am category this year. At Heart of Racing Team, talent search winners Hannah Grisham and Rianna O’Meara-Hunt will pilot the #26 Aston Martin, the culmination of their efforts this off-season. At Smooge Racing, TRD development driver Isabella Robusto will take her stock car racing skills to GT4 sports car racing in the #67 Toyota GR Supra which she’ll share with Joey DaSilva.

Returning race winners from 2023 include championship runner-up, who’s partnered with Robb Holland to drive Rotek Racing’s #99 Porsche, and Rob Walker, in Auto Technic Racing’s new #253 BMW with Satakal Khalsa. In that group, there is also the #20 Carrus Callas Raceteam Toyota of Nicholas Shanny and the legendary Terry Borcheller, and the new #98 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Paul Sparta and Al Carter. Ian James and Gray Newell are in Heart of Racing Team’s #24 Aston Martin, intending to move over from Pro-Am to Am.

RS1 (Rennsport One) will continue in the series, this time competing in the Am class with father and son Roland and Austin Krainz driving their #18 Porsche. Former RS1 drivers Nelson Calle and Juan Martinez are now backed by NOLASPORT in their #83 Porsche – NOLASPORT is also entering the #52 for David Peterman and Lee Carpentier. Custodio Toledo and ex-All-Japan F3000 star Paulo Carcasci in the #35 Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG came close to victories last season and could take a big step forward in their second year together.

GMG Racing drivers James Sofronas and Kyle Washington intend to pull double duty this weekend with their #32 Porsche operating concurrent with each driver’s respective GT3 efforts. TR3 Racing is making its GT4 America debut with the #77 Mercedes of Paul Kiebler and Jon Branam. And after a brutal weekend in the Sebring 12 Hours, Robert Mau hopes to restore his reputation when he gets back aboard STR38 Motorsports’ #438 BMW with Chris Allen.

There were eight different winners in the Am class last season, and if even a fraction of these teams mentioned above commit to the full season, we can expect a competitive pursuit of the season title.

Images © SRO Motorsports America, except where otherwise listed. Entries subject to change.