Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams Secure a Triple Sweep of GT3 Race Wins in the Season-Opening SRO America Race Weekend at Sonoma Raceway

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing GT3 Teams JMF Motorsports, Regulator Racing and CrowdStrike by Riley All Victorious in Season-Opening SRO America Race Weekend at Sonoma Raceway

Among the highlights was a debut GT World Challenge overall and Pro class victory Saturday by longtime Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team JMF Motorsports. Stepping up to GT3 competition this year after several seasons of successful Mercedes-AMG GT4 campaigns, the team and drivers came home winners in their first GT3 race.

Team drivers Mikael Grenier and Michai Stephens combined top pitside performance by the JMF crew with quick pace on the track to secure the milestone win. The victory came in the debut of both the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Stephens in GT3 competition and was the first GT World Challenge win for Grenier since 2021 with Winward Racing.

After starting driver Stephens kept the No. 34 clean and in the lead pack of contenders throughout his race-opening stint, Grenier took over for the run to the finish. The spot-on pit work allowed Grenier to take the lead early in his stint, and he skillfully maintained a comfortable but close gap over the second-place finisher to the end. Grenier crossed the finish line with a margin of victory of 0.638 of a second.

Sunday's final 90-minute GT World Challenge race produced another memorable winning performance with the returning duo of Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis hitting the win column in the Pro-Am class on opening weekend in the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

A restart with 20 minutes to go set the stage for Ellis to make one of his trademark runs to the front. Taking the green sixth in Pro-Am and 10th overall, Ellis took immediate advantage of the tightened field and pulled off the winning pass on longtime Pro-Am leader George Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 less than five minutes later. Ellis promptly opened a comfortable lead to take the checkered flag with a nearly 16 second margin of victory.

Kurtz, his co-driver Colin Braun and the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 team finished second in Pro-Am in both GT World Challenge races. Kurtz, however, sealed a winning return to SRO America competition with his CrowdStrike by Riley teammates when he gave the Mercedes-AMG GT3 its first win of the weekend in Saturday's season-opening GT America powered by AWS race in the CrowdStrike No. 04.

Kurtz led every lap from the pole in the 40-minute sprint in his return and first victory in SRO America since last May at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Texas. Kurtz also won a GT America sprint last year at COTA.

The sixth and final podium showing for the winning Mercedes-AMG GT3 triumvirate at Sonoma came from JMF who backed up the breakout win Saturday with a third-place Pro-class finish on Sunday.

In the Pirelli GT4 America series, the debuting Dome Motorsport team singlehandedly carried the Mercedes-AMG GT4 flag in a competitive field of more than 30 entries. Veteran driver and former Mercedes-AMG race winner Marc Miller co-drives this season in the Pro-Am class with Eddie Killeen, who joined his new Dome teammates in making his Sonoma and series debut as well.

The team made steady progress throughout the weekend, improving on an 11th place finish in Saturday's opening round for a top-10 finish in Sunday's final 60-minute race. Killeen took the No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 across the finish line in ninth place on Sunday.

Next up for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams on the SRO America schedule is a GT America doubleheader at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 11 – 13. The next full weekend of SRO America competition is at COTA, April 25 – 27.

Mikael Grenier, Driver – No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: 'It's a really nice job by the team. They did everything right. They started to organize the lineup and everything for this season last year in August or September. I had contact with them, so we did a lot of preparation and a bit of testing over the winter and practiced pit stops. We have a very good engineer and data guy and very good mechanics, as well as our crew on pit stops. So, it was a really great job, and the car had a fantastic first stint with Michai. He is new to GT3, doesn't have that much experience in racing compared to the pro guys, but he's got a lot of natural talent and he's working very, very hard. He did everything perfectly this weekend. Good qualifying and he stayed out of trouble in the first stint. In the end, we had to pace ourselves with the second-place car behind us. I didn't want to take risks, and we had traffic at the end, as well. So, it wasn't easy. Just a nice job by everyone on the team.'

Michai Stephens, Driver – No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: 'It's such a privilege in so many ways. It's a privilege to know all the individuals and all the different organizations that we have the opportunity to work with. It's a testament to our team owner Mr. Farrow, and a testament to doing things for the right reasons and really trying to be mindful and aware of why we all started on this venture. We started because we knew deep down in our hearts that motorsports are the way we want to live life. As of right now, it's just an incredible honor to be gifted a victory in our debut under such circumstances. It is a pretty significant learning curve, but one we're looking forward to and very excited about. We have all the right people to achieve it. Just to be able to be out there, get a few laps under my belt and hand it off to Mik, and watch him do a tremendous job at what he does best is a privilege. You couldn't ask for anything more.'

Jeff Burton, Driver – No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: 'I was surprised to be honest. Saturday, I didn't drive very well. I kept pushing the car, but Philip and all the engineers are really complimentary on my ability to drive. I just had to kind of step back into it a little. I haven't done this for nearly six months now. Indy was the last race we did last October, so to get ready and do this first race of the year, it was a lot of fun. Actually, that's what kind of motivated me. I knew I was at the front of the pack and starting second, so I was focused on staying there and within the top four or five. It was really a lot of fun. I love to be motivated. I just love that.'

Philip Ellis, Driver – No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: 'It's super satisfying. It was a bit difficult for us, I think, but everyone was a bit busy after the long break since Indy last year. It was a risk-taking strategy, but luck was on our side today. Jeff drove his heart out, probably one of the best runs I've ever seen from him. The late yellow flag and restart really helped. That basically set us up for the win. Before that, we may have been on the podium if we're lucky. It's amazing to hit it off with that strong to start the year. We finished third in the championship last year and now this is a very good start. That is always the mission, and it's definitely possible. We have a lot more cars this year, a lot more competition, so we will see how it goes. We have to be a bit lucky with what we do, but yeah, why not us?'

George Kurtz, Driver – No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3: 'First, it's great to be back. The CrowdStrike by Riley guys gave me a great Mercedes-AMG GT3, and it has always been a fantastic car for Sonoma. The GT America race Saturday was trouble free, and the AMG carries the speed and rolls with the flow of the track. We had a huge gap, managed the tires and really focused driving clean. It was all about controlling the pace, and it couldn't have gone any better. We were able to get a good gap and keep it.'

Eddie Killeen, Driver – No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4: 'It was a super-exciting weekend for me and the Junaid Family Foundation. It's great to be out here as a new team and team owner. I am an older gentleman driver with a bit of experience, but to be out here for a full season of SRO Pirelli GT4, and to be with a pro like Marc Miller and this team, is a super experience for me. We sorted it all out very late last year, but we have a great group put together. Saturday was kind of tough. It's a new track for me. I have never been here, never been out West to race and have never raced a track with such undulations and terrain like Sonoma. So, Saturday for my first race was an experience. A lot of yellow flag laps in my stint, but I felt like we could have done something, but so be it. And Sunday was probably just my third time ever in the rain. I got lucky. A little trepidation going into it, but we had fun, we kept the car relatively clean, so all in all just a great weekend.'

Photo credit: Mercedes-Benz
posted on conceptcarz.com

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