GMG Racing and team drivers Kyle Washington and Tom Sargent ushered in the new three-hour era of the SRO GT World Challenge America series Sunday at Sonoma Raceway in winning style with a strong Pro-Am class victory and third-place overall finish in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. It was the first GT World Challenge America win for GMG, Washington and Sargent since they won at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) in the driving duos first year together in the series in 2024.

“This is a monumental win for GMG Racing as we celebrate 25 years in competition this year,” said GMG Racing Founder and Principal James Sofronas. “My guys told me late last year, this was going to be our Silver Anniversary season, but we are honestly so busy like we always are with our full lineup of racing programs in so many series. We really haven’t had time to think about any recognition or official celebrations, but I truly think the right celebration found us this weekend at Sonoma! What better way to celebrate 25 years in motorsport than scoring one of the biggest wins in our team’s history while doing what we love.

“To take a commanding victory in the new GT World Challenge America three-hour race era and see Kyle have one of the best driving performances of his career, and join the fastest guy at the track with Tom for a flawless weekend, is incredible and even emotionally moving. On top of it, both of our McLaren Trophy America teams and all four drivers hit the podium in every race. It is a fantastic way to start our 25th season, and we look forward to keeping the celebration going all year.”

Washington started the three-hour race in the No. 32 eighth in Pro-Am and 13th on the overall grid and combined career-best pace with a clean and careful drive that many of his Pro-Am competitors couldn’t match. He was battling for the Pro-Am top five when he turned the Porsche over to Sargent who went on a march straight to the front and the eventual victory.

“This new format is tough on everybody,” Washington said. “The crew, the car and the drivers, but I brought my good luck charm. My mom Phyllis came to her first race! Everything just worked out unbelievably. The car was great. I can’t say enough for the crew, what they did to the car really all weekend. It was an incredible car today. If we can keep this car throughout the year, more good things are going to happen.”

The GMG Racing crew matched the nearly flawless performance of its drivers and set the stage for victory with a top pit stop for the final time with just under 50 minutes to go. Sargent took it from there, setting the fastest lap of the race while maintaining the lead and charging to the Pro-Am win and third place overall. Washington and Sargent earned the Superfuel Hard Charger award of the race after improving a race-high 10 starting positions.

“We were obviously extremely fast and everything went right for us,” Sargent said. “Kyle did everything he needed to do with speed, consistency and a mistake-free run. The team did everything they needed to do, and in the end the great win was the result you get. Last year we came so close and should have had a win at some races and didn’t, so it’s nice to get one straight off the bat. It was real unknown for us this year with the three-hour races, but GMG Racing and Porsche were able to maximize the new format. I don’t know if it’s going to be like that for the rest of the season, but we’ll take what we can get now!”

The GT World Challenge America victory capped a strong weekend across the board for GMG Racing at the 2026 SRO America season opener at Sonoma. The team’s four entries across three different racing series were podium perfect. In addition to the milestone GT World Challenge win, Washington doubled his podium tally with a hard-fought solo drive to second in Sunday morning’s GT America powered by AWS sprint. Driving the sister No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, Washington sent a clear message that – in addition to pursuing the GT World Challenge Pro-Am championship with Sargent – he is also fully focused on the 2026 GT America title, a championship in which he finished a close second last year.

The podium success extended to GMG Racing’s McLaren Trophy America program where both of GMG Racing’s new competing teams visited victory lane after each of the weekend’s doubleheader races. The highlight was a charging second-place Am-class finish by co-drivers Deniz Teoman and Jeff Cook in the No. 5 GMG Racing McLaren Artura Trophy in Saturday’s opening 50-minute race.

“This is the potential that we identified early last season and started working on then and right up until now,” Teoman said. “So, it’s been more than a year of just trying to understand where our opportunities are and work on them to make things happen. So, I am really proud that in our first race of the season, we’re able to show that we can persevere for our best result of the weekend. The Amateur (Am) category has a remarkable level of talent and a quantity of talent in it too. It’s a stacked category this year, so to walk out of here with a couple of podiums is an accomplishment on multiple levels. I feel really good about that.”

Teoman and Cook arrive at GMG Racing this year after competing with another team in the inaugural McLaren Trophy America season last year.

“It is just amazing,” Cook said. “The competitors out there are so fierce, and it was awesome coming up to them and having those battles and how clean it was in both races. It was tight, but it just shows how hard everyone is going to have to work this season to really be at the point. The competition just feels like it stepped up significantly. I’m actually really looking forward to all of us dicing it up and having a good time this year. There’s a lot of good clean racing, I think it’s going to be this way all year, and there’s going to be even more competition in Miami. The series is off to a much more competitive start than last year.”

Three of the four McLaren Trophy finishes were third-place showings, including Sunday in Am for Teoman and Cook and both races for the Pro-Am pairing of debuting driver Randy Highland and his coach and co-driver John Capestro-Dubets in the No. 7 GMG Racing McLaren Artura Trophy.

“It’s awesome,” Highland said. “I think back, it was one year ago, almost to the day, that I was here watching, hoping and praying that I would actually make my first race here this year. And a lot of hard work and a great coach made it happen. On Saturday I was just trying to keep us in position, not make any mistakes, and it all worked out. JCD came through at the end and there we were in P3. It’s awesome, an awesome feeling. The GMG Racing team is great. Nobody complained about having to do the extra work on Friday, and they actually like the challenge. They were on top of it and fixed it in a matter of in a matter of a couple hours. So, yeah, it was great, just great teamwork.”

Highland’s coach and co-driver Capestro-Dubets – best known as “JCD” – helped his teammate throughout his racing debut.

“It’s quite a pleasure to get to drive with Randy and be back in this McLaren,” Capestro-Dubets said. “The GMG Racing boys definitely gave us a good car all weekend. The car was fast, I think we ended with the fastest lap of the race on Saturday, and we made our way up to the podium in both races. I can’t be more honored to have our debut with Randy on the podium, and we will keep working toward that top step.”

Next up for GMG Racing in SRO America GT competition is Round 2 of the 2026 season at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), April 24 – 26. The McLaren Trophy America championship’s next race’s in the first appearance of the series as a featured Formula 1 support race at the Grand Prix of Miami, May 1 – 3, at the Miami International Autodrome.