RAFA Racing Team’s Westin Workman was able to get to the inside of Random Vandals Racing’s Sam Craven in turn 7 with just 15 minutes to go Saturday (March 28). From there, he was able to hold on to win Pirelli GT4 America Race No. 2 at Sonoma Raceway and score the weekend sweep with Tyler Gonzalez.
“It was amazing,” Workman told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “With Tyler Gonzalez starting the race and opening up a gap on the other Silvers, all I had to do was get in the car and bring it home.”
Craven and Kenton Koch finished second in their BMW. AutoTechnic Racing’s Kevin Boehm and Francis Selldorff. The second Random Vandals BMW of Bruno Colombo and Josh Green was fourth, while Blackdog Speed Shop’s Michael Cooper and Tony Gaples were fifth.
In Silver, Gonzalez and Workman defeated Boehm and Selldorff. Colombo and Green were third, then Rennsport One’s Luca Mars and Spencer Pumpelly. LAP Motorsports’ Casey Moyer and Clayton Williams finished fifth in their Ford Mustang GT4.
As a result of setting the fastest lap in Race No. 1 Friday, Koch started from the overall pole in his BMW. On the start, Koch got a decent jump, but RAFA Racing Team’s Tyler Gonzalez pulled him back in quickly.
Blackdog Speed Shop’s Michael Cooper was able to dispatch of Selldorff on the first lap and attached himself to Gonzalez’s rear bumper.
Koch and Gonzalez were evenly matched during their stints, but as the race continued, Race No. 1 came back to bite Koch. On the opening lap Friday, Koch’s teammate Craven hit Dome Motorsport’s Allen Patten.
Tyler Gonzalez, Westin Workman Win Sonoma GT4 Race No. 1
Craven was judged to be responsible for the incident and was given a drive-through penalty. During this race, bodywork on the right front corner of the No. 94 BMW came loose and started flapping.
When the mid-race pit window opened up, the Random Vandals crew was able to address that. Given the 40-second minimum in your pit stall that SRO America mandates this weekend for Pirelli GT4 America, it was easily taken care of during the driver change.
Despite a moment during the pit window when Craven dropped a wheel into the dirt exiting turn 2, he was able to maintain the overall lead after the pit sequence. Now, Workman was right on his tail.
Further back, NOLAsport’s Matt Travis spun in the turn 9 chicane after contact from Stephen Cameron Racing’s Jonathan Perichon while fighting for fifth in class. Perichon was given a drive-through penalty for the contact.
To make things worse, Perichon exceeded the 50 kph speed limit during the drive-through penalty, resulting in another drive-through. As a result, Perichon and Greg Liefooghe ended up finishing a lap down.
Workman appeared to be faster than Craven and continued to ramp up the pressure on Craven. Craven was able to hold his ground.
With just under 15 minutes to go, Workman made his move in turn 7 to take the overall lead. Once out front, Workman was able to open a small advantage.
With just over 10 minutes to go, the race’s sole full course yellow came out when BimmerWorld Racing’s Michael Petramalo spun exiting turn 3a and hit the tires hard. Petramalo was ok, but the tire barrier needed to be reset. The track crews were unable to fix the barrier in the remaining time so that the race could restart, meaning that it ended under yellow.
In Silver, Gonzalez started on the class pole in second overall. While he attached himself to Koch, Selldorff dropped down the order to sixth overall. In class, that equated to a six-second lead 10 minutes into the race.
Gonzalez was never challenged during his stint in the car before he pitted to put Workman in the seat. Meanwhile, Selldorff pitted early in order to swap over to Boehm.
The result was that Workman ended up with a seven-second lead over Boehm, but the overall honors were right in front of him.
Despite losing the overall lead, Craven still had a good lead over Gaples. In addition, Gaples was much slower on lap time. As a result, Craven was easily able to hold on to win the Pro-Am class in second overall.
Cooper and Gaples ended up second, followed by AutoTechnic Racing’s Roland Krainz and Stevan McAleer. Travis and Matheus Leist recovered from their spin to finish fourth, while Precision Racing LA’s Ryan Eversley and Karl Forman were fifth.
In Am, Random Vandals Racing’s Denny Stripling started from pole in ninth overall. The form shown in Race No. 1 Friday gave Stripling a nine-position head start over second in class, so he was able to run a quick but safe pace early on. That cost him a couple of positions overall.
The quickest driver in class early on was BimmerWorld Racing’s James Clay, who started in the rear due to the door coming off on the first lap Friday. He was able to drive up to third in class before hitting the wall exiting turn 11 and damaging his left front corner. That ended up putting Clay and James Walker Jr. multiple laps down.
A good pit stop moved the No. 188 with Judson Holt now at the wheel up to ninth overall. Perichon’s penalties made that eighth. From there, Holt and Stripling easily held on to take the Am weekend sweep.
Late issues rose the Am duo to sixth overall by the finish. Alex and Michael Garcia recovered from Friday’s incident to finish second in class, followed by Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Zach Lumsden and Kris Wilson. TechSport Racing’s Frankie Muniz and Tyler Stone were fourth, while Dome Motorsport’s Laura Hayes and Eddie Killeen were fifth.
Pirelli GT4 America: Sonoma Race No. 2 Results
Next up for Pirelli GT4 America will be the Lonestar Enduro, a three-hour race at Circuit of the Americas. That race will be April 25 at 5:30 p.m. ET on the GT World YouTube channel.
