Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams and Drivers Combine for Record-Setting Weekend in Season-Opening SRO Motorsports America Event at Sonoma Raceway
A record entry of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams set the stage for a record weekend of SRO Motorsports America competition Saturday and Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams combined for a North American record 1-2-3-4 sweep in Sunday’s 40-minute GT America sprint to anchor a weekend haul of eight overall or class race wins and 13 total podium finishes across three SRO racing series on the 2.520-mile Sonoma road course. The 19 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport entries for the Sonoma weekend were the most on any race weekend in North America since the customer racing program was introduced in 2017. Additionally, the 15 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries for the Sonoma event was the largest number of AMG GT3 machinery ever to assemble for a race weekend.
The weekend’s overall race winners were the No. 04 CrowdStrike Motorsports with Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3, co-driven by George Kurtz and Colin Braun, the No. 101 TKO Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Memo Gidley and Anthony Bartone in the No. 427 Bartone Bros. Racing with RealTime Mercedes-AMG GT3.
All three teams factored into the most impressive result of the weekend after a post-race technical infraction moved the competitor that crossed the finish line first in Sunday’s GT America race to the back of the finishing order. That elevated first-year GT3 driver Bartone, who started the race fifth, to the top step of the podium in just his third career GT3 start. The breakout win capped a quick and steady rise to the top following Bartone’s sixth-place and fourth-place finishes, respectively, in the Saturday and Sunday races at last month’s season-opening GT America race at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
Kurtz, who reached the podium in each of the four races he contested this weekend, was elevated to second behind Bartone while Memo Gidley, who won Saturday’s first GT America sprint, hit the top-three again Sunday for a pair of podium finishes on his home track.
Sunday’s fourth-place GT America finish was earned by Jason Daskalos in the No. 27 CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to complete the unprecedented top-four sweep for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport customer teams. In total, Mercedes-AMG GT3 competitors filled five of the six podium positions available in the weekend’s pair of 40-minute GT America races.
Kurtz scored his weekend victory co-driving the No. 04 CrowdStrike Motorsports with Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS entry with Braun. Both drivers convincingly led the 90-minute race, with Braun setting the early pace up front and Kurtz retaking the lead after pit stops for the eventual overall and Pro-Am victory.
Kurtz and Braun finished second in Pro-Am in Saturday’s first GT World Challenge race while Kurtz soloed to third in that day’s opening GT America race.
In addition to his planned GT America campaign, Bartone and his coach and co-driver Andy Pilgrim have also added GT World Challenge to their debut GT3 season together. Competing in the World Challenge Am class, Bartone and Pilgrim secured a pair of uncontested victories in each of the weekend’s 90-minute races in the No. 43 Bartone Bros. Racing with RealTime Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The weekend’s final GT3 podium player was another debuting driver and team combination. The No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Ziad Ghandour and Daniel Morad moved their new GT World Challenge campaign off to a solid start with both drivers running in the top two Sunday for the majority of their stints. Closing driver Ghandour was leading before Kurtz slipped by for the winning pass with 29 minutes to go but still stayed on pace to the checkered flag for a second-place finish.
The record and winning Mercedes-AMG Motorsport customer racing weekend at Sonoma extended into the Pirelli GT4 America series where Conquest Racing secured a solid three wins in the four races the team’s pair of Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries contested.
The new driver pairing of returning team veteran Michai Stephens and newcomer Jesse Webb scored a convincing sweep of the Silver class in the No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 in both the Saturday and Sunday 60-minute races.
In Saturday’s race, Conquest’s Am-class entry, co-driven by Custódio Toledo and Paulo Carcasci, joined Stephens and Webb as race winners in the No. 35 Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4. Toledo and Carcasci used the momentum of a pair of podium finishes at 2022’s season-ending races at Sebring and Indianapolis to secure their first Pirelli GT4 victory in just their sixth race together.
Next up for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams in SRO Motorsports America competition is an all-series weekend of competition at NOLA Motorsports Park, located just outside of New Orleans, April 28 – 30. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport customer GT Daytona (GTD) and GTD Pro teams in turn next compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 14 – 15.
Memo Gidley, Driver – No. 101 Flying Lizard/TKO Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I love it. Sonoma is my home track. I’ve got all my friends and family here, my two-year-old daughter, my wife. Everybody’s out here and there is a little pressure to do well. So, I’m SO glad I was able to bring home a win. The TKO car is working great; the Mercedes-AMG GT3 is flying! It’s really, really special. I don’t think I’ve won here in a long, long time. It’s unbelievable. I feel very fortunate. Ever since day one getting into racing, and all the way up through the ranks, I’ve had so much support, people who believe in me and live vicariously through what I am doing. Then after the accident in Daytona, a lot of people stood by me. I am just so thankful for all that. Dave Traitel put me back in a car three years after the accident. As soon as I got cleared, he bought a car and said ‘I want you to drive it.’ Every time I drive, it doesn’t matter if I go slow or fast, he says ‘I really like watching you drive.’ How can you have a bad day when a guy like Dave Traitel is in your corner and says something like that to you?”
George Kurtz, Driver – No. 04 CrowdStrike Motorsports with Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3: “The CrowdStrike by Riley guys gave us a really great Mercedes-AMG GT3. We like this track, had a good setup and Mercedes-AMG did a fantastic job. We were saving the tires, and struggled a little bit at the end, but we luckily built a great lead. Colin did a killer job on his stint. We came in a little bit early, so we had to get past at least one other car, but we got the job done and got the overall win. It’s never easy to pass here. I just figured out where I was faster and got a great run out of turn eight, got by for the lead in turn nine and didn’t look back. I built a great big gap and could not be happier for the team and everyone involved.”
Colin Braun, Driver – No. 04 CrowdStrike Motorsports with Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Man, it was a great weekend for us. This is kind of a home track for CrowdStrike, we had a bunch of folks out here, so I’m really happy to grab an overall win for them. It was huge. It was a great job by the team all weekend, a great job by George. Our car was super-fast in practice, was great in qualifying and we knew we had a good long-run race car that, if we could get some clean air, we could command the race. I was happy to get the lead early and then be able to control the race from that point forward. It’s one of my favorite race tracks and I’m really proud of everyone.”
Anthony Bartone, Driver – No. 427 Bartone Bros. Racing with RealTime Mercedes-AMG GT3: “In the first 15 minutes I was behind Jason Daskalos. He was going a great job and I honestly didn’t know if I could get him when he was in fourth, but then I started feeling that his car was not as underneath him as mine was and that’s a testament to the team and engineering that we had a car that could go the distance. Once I made that pass I thought ‘okay, next one up,’ and eventually caught Memo. We just seemed a little more hooked up than everybody else. We made some changes overnight and I thought we could do it, keep moving up, and that’s what happened. This was only my 12th or 13th day in a GT3 car, and for me it feels comfortable, it feels balanced in the places you want it to be, and the braking and cornering ability is amazing. It’s very comfortable for someone with very little experience like myself. We made the right choice to go with the Mercedes-AMG GT3.”
Andy Pilgrim, Driver – No. 43 Bartone Bros. Racing with RealTime Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It was a solid weekend, no doubt about it. An excellent weekend. Anthony did a superb job, I must say. He’s like a sponge. These young drivers, you tell them something once and they figure it out very quickly. He’s been doing a tremendous amount of simulator work and he’s learning so fast. I am just privileged at this point in my career to be a part of this, really. To see this lad blossom like this and to be part of that program to help him, I’m just having the best time.”
Daniel Morad, Driver – No. 99 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “What I’ve learned is that when I have been able to get in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 it has usually gone well. I’ve had a great time with either fast laps or podium results. The last few races have been fantastic. Starting in Indy and going to Daytona, and coming here with a new program, I am super-proud of the guys. They switched from a mid-engine car to a front-engine car with essentially one day of testing with me and the team, and they were able to transform the platform from average to top tier and fight against the best teams in the field. So, I’m proud of that. I’m definitely very proud of the TR3 Racing guys. It’s fantastic and has a really nice atmosphere. It’s a family team, it’s all been positive, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. We’re going to get a win soon!”
Michai Stephens, Driver – No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: “To be able to step out of the first rounds here at GT4 America’s season-opener at Sonoma with a pair of victories is absolutely tremendous. We’re very much grateful for the results we achieved this weekend. We build on this weekend's success by remaining optimistic yet humble at the same time. Infrastructure is everything. The drivers are the fortunate few that get the privilege to cross the finish line. It’s always done on the backs of tremendous effort far and wide. Regardless of the size of the organization, everybody really appreciates what they bring to the table because everybody’s contribution counts. We have a beautiful opportunity here with all the tools in the shed. We just need to figure out which ones to pull out at the right time. It’s going to be some stout competition here in 2023, but that’s a credit to the SRO series and Mercedes-AMG and all of the manufacturers which are joining forces to make it as competitive as it is. We’ll put our heads together, keep digging and we’ll keep moving forward.”
Jesse Webb, Driver – No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: “We had a flawless weekend. The team performed perfectly, and we just ran away with it in the Silver class. Taking two wins in the two races on the first weekend, we can’t complain. I have this guy, Michai, by my side and we’re ready to take on the rest of the season. It’s an absolute pleasure to be a part of this program. John Farrow and Eric Bachelart and everybody else, they put together a fantastic program for us. They give us everything we need so we can do as well as we can. I came in with a bunch of confidence, knowing I had the team behind me and all of the support I needed. Michai is the greatest teammate that I could have asked for; he’s honest and just a beautifully well put-together guy. I could not have asked for a better teammate. This is 1,000 percent the biggest win of my career so far. I ran the Nissan Sentra Cup with Gavin Sanders and then I ran the RS1 Stock Car series up in Canada but wasn’t sure what was going to happen this year. Then I got this opportunity, I am very happy to be here, and I am grateful every day.”
Custódio Toledo, Driver – No. 35 Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “The first thing was just to stay out of trouble when I was driving. In the beginning, there was a crash in front of me. That was a key moment. Then I was going side-by-side in the hairpin and the guy squeezed me against the wall. That could have been a very big wreck. So, just getting out of trouble was big. We had a very good pit stop and then Paulo drove an amazing second stint that brought the car home in first place. We’ve been working so hard for this. Paulo and I started this project a year and a half ago and it’s just amazing to get our first win here in GT4 America. I want to thank the entire Conquest Racing team; they did an amazing job and gave us a great car. It’s an incredible feeling.”
Paulo Carcasci, Driver – No. 35 Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I passed about four cars. A key moment was when our crew chief told me on the radio to pass the car in front of me for position. So that’s when I passed all the other cars and went for P1. That’s when I decided to go forward. Otherwise, I would have just cruised around. It was a team effort for sure. We’re happy. The team did a great job, we have a fantastic car, our new car from Mercedes-AMG. It was a last-minute delivery just about a month before this race. I’m very thankful for Custódio, he gave me the opportunity to return to racing after a 30-year retirement and it feels fantastic. The whole crew works so hard, you have no idea just how much work they put in behind the scenes. It’s not just one key moment that brought us here, it was a lot of effort over a long period of time that brought us this win.”
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