Challenging Weekend for BMW Teams In SRO GT World Challenge at Sonoma, GT4 America Teams Fare Better

The SRO GT World Challenge America (GTWCA) season opened up at Sonoma Raceway in California this past weekend, which was the first race under a new format for 2026. Instead of the pair of 90-minute sprint races that we’ve seen for the last several years, the series went to a single three-hour race format for this year, which is very similar to that format that SRO uses for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup races.

Initial indicators for the new format are positive, as there were the most entries in a season opener since 2019. Among the 20 entries were three BMW M4 GT4 EVOs. Turner Motorsport moved up to the Pro class this year after winning the Pro-Am championship the last two years, with Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg back in the #29 car. Random Vandals Racing moved from the Pro class into Pro-Am for 2026, with the #99 M4 GT4 EVO driven by Derek DeBoer and Hampus Ericsson. A second Pro-Am class entry came from Riley Technologies, with the #14 BMW driven by Andy Lee and Slade Stewart.

In qualifying, the #29 Turner BMW (shown in top photo) qualified fifth in the Pro class and was well off the pole time of the #34 Mercedes-AMG. In Pro-Am, the BMWs qualified in seventh (#99) and 10th (#14), with the pole going to the #27 Mercedes-AMG. Once the race got underway, Slade Steward moved up to twelfth overall in the #14 and right behind the #99 Random Vandals BMW but then ran into the back of the #99 car, which took the #14 out of the race. Derek DeBoer was able to bring the #99 into the pits and keep going with some damage to the rear of the car, but it certainly wasn’t running at 100 percent.

The race was caution-free except for the incident involving the two BMWs, but nobody could really match the pace of the #34 Mercedes-AMG that started from pole and went on to easily win the race. Robby Foley put in a strong stint in the Turner Motorsport BMW to bring it up to fourth and was on the bumper of the third place #6 Ford Mustang for several laps but was unable to get by. The #99 Random Vandals BMW was hit again by a Porsche late in the race but managed to finish in seventh in Pro-Am, with the class win going to the #32 Porsche.

Multiple Podiums for BMW in GT4 America
BMW teams had more success in the pair of GT4 America races at Sonoma, though there was some bad mojo going on in those races as well. In race one, several cars were caught up in an incident that was started by the #98 Random Vandals Racing M4 GT4 EVO driven by Sam Craven, who got into the back of a Mercedes-AMG that then hit the #21 ACI Motorsport M4 GT4 EVO that started on the Am class pole. The #36 BimmerWorld M4 GT4 EVO was also bumped and had its passenger door fly off, which was then run over by Judson Holt in the #188 Random Vandals BMW. The #98 was penalized for the debacle and was also given a 30-second post-race penalty for a pit lane speed violation.

After all that, some of the BMWs that were left in the race managed to finish well. The #51 Auto Technic Racing M4 GT4 EVO of Kevin Boehm and Francis Selldorff finished second in the Silver class (and overall) behind the winning #68 Toyota Supra, and the #98 Random Vandals car of Josh Green and Bruno Columbo finished fourth in Silver, which was a strong comeback after the car had to stop to replace a tire cut by debris from the early race incident. In Pro-Am, the #90 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW of Gregory Liefooghe and Jonathon Perichon finished second in class behind the winning #47 Porsche, and the #38 BimmerWorld car of Tyler McQuarrie and Michael Petramolo finished third. The #188 Random Vandals M4 GT4 EVO of Judson Holt and Denny Stripling won the Am class and finished an impressive eleventh overall.

In race two, the #94 pair of Kenton Koch and Sam Craven bounced back from their mishaps in race one to take the win in Pro-Am and finish second overall. “It was a strong recovery and a good reset mentally,” said Koch. “Sam did a great job today, and it was a great result for the Random Vandals team. BMW was quick, and it’s nice to bounce back this way.” The #19 Auto Technic Racing BMW of Stevan McAleer and Roland Krainz finished third in Pro-Am. The win in Silver went once again to the #68 Toyota, but BMWs finished in second (#51) and third (#98) in class. BMWs ruled the race in the Am class, with Holt and Stripling getting a second win in the #188 car, and they were followed on the class podium by the #21 ACI Motorsport BMW of brothers Alex & Michael Garcia and the #413 Flying Lizard Motorsport M4 GT4 EVO of Zach Lumsden and Kris Wilson. “We had such a blast here,” said Holt. We wanted this weekend to go this way, and to come out of here with these results feels incredible.”

The Sonoma race weekend also saw the US debut of the new BMW M2 Racing, which was entered in the TC America races by DRS for Robert Bellevue. We were expecting a lot more M2s than this, but we should see more over the next few races. Word from BMW of North America is that there have been some delays in getting the cars into the country that has resulted in a staggered rollout to teams but more have now arrived and will be racing soon. It was an inauspicious debut for the new M2, as it finished last in both races and was way off the pace of the other cars in the class. Look for that to change as the season progresses.

The next SRO race weekend will be at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on the weekend of April 24th-26th.

—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]