An expanded grid of 21 cars are set for next weekend’s third and fourth rounds of GT America powered by AWS, with several SRO America stalwart drivers set to make cameo appearances on the streets of Long Beach.

Released on Friday, the entry list consists of 13 cars in the top SRO3 class for GT3 machinery, the return of the GT2 class with two cars, along with six GT4 entries for the pair of single driver 40-minute sprint races.

GT World Challenge America powered by AWS competitors Jason Bell, Gray Newell, Jason Daskalos, Blake McDonald and Jeff Burton have helped boost the SRO3 class with their participation.

Bell and Newell will be in Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evos run by RacersEdge and Heart of Racing Team, respectively, while Daskalos will return to the series after stepping up to GTWC America in his CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

McDonald will pilot his DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R while Burton in the sister Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG.

James Sofronas, meanwhile, is set for his first GT America start of the season in his No. 14 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, while GMG will field a third entry, alongside Sonoma Race 2 winner Kyle Washington, for Patrick Mulcahy in a Type 991.2 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Other contenders in SRO3 include George Kurtz in his CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG, which won the opening race at Sonoma, the Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Justin Rothberg, Elias Sabo’s Flying Lizard Motorsports’ BMW, Mirco Schultis’ Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R and the Chouest Povoldeo Racing Corvette of Ross Chouest.

CJ Moses is set to take his GMG Audi R8 LMS GT2 back on track, in a class that will also feature a MLT Motorsports-entered Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 for Adrian Kunzle.

GT4 features six entries, including a Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO for team owner Paul Sparta as a wildcard entry.

Ricco Shlaimoun is set to drive the No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport in place of team owner Curt Swearingin, with Sonoma class winners Anthony McIntosh and Max Hewitt in their Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo and JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 entries, respectively.

The field is rounded out by Judson Holt in a Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4 and Robb Holland aboard his Rotek Racing Porsche.

Practice and qualifying is on tap for Fri. April 11, with Race 1 scheduled for a 5:20 p.m. PST start on Sat. April 12, with Race 2 at 11:20 a.m. on Sun. April 13. Both races will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

Will Robusto hung on to win a close battle with Jaxon Bell in the second race of the Toyota GR Cup North America weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

The RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate driver survived a pair of restarts and near race-long pressure from Bell behind to take the checkered flag with a 0.823-second margin of victory in his No. 2 Toyota GR86.

Robusto led the 31-car field to green in a single-file start following an additional formation lap on a damp but drying racetrack.

Behind, Bell pounced on Max Schweid to take over second place at the start in his No. 7 Copeland Motorsports GR86, quickly closing in on Robusto’s lead. Bell remained attached to the RVA driver’s bumper, applying consistent pressure for the lead following both of the race’s restarts.

The two became locked in a lengthy battle for the win in the final ten minutes of racing, with Robusto ultimately able to hold his advantage at the head of the field and take the win.

Drama in the fight for the final podium position saw the No. 71 TechSport Toyota of Christian Weir initially cross the line in third, but eventually drop down the order after a pair of penalties were issued to him post-race for incident responsibility.

While official results are pending, the delivered penalties would appear to promote Westin Workman to a podium finish for BSI ahead of TechSport’s Ethan Goulart in fourth, with both drivers surviving the late-race chaos.

Casey Mashore’s finishing position was also elevated, seeing the No. 50 Mashore Autobody GR86 finish fifth.

Ethan Ayars spun from third position after side-by-side contact with Weir at the Turn 9 chicane, collecting Legends Cup driver John Dean in the process. Post-race investigations yielded hefty penalties for Weir, dropping him down the order.

The TechSport driver was first handed a 50-second time penalty for causing the Turn 9 melee and ordered to start the next race of the season at Circuit of The Americas from pitlane.

He was subsequently penalized an additional 50 seconds for causing a collision with Spike Kohlbecker, who appeared to be on track for a top-five finish before suddenly losing pace after an apparent final lap incident at Turn 11. Weir also collected 7 total warning points from Race Control in the process.

Race 1 winner Lucas Weisenberg was on the move early, making up significant ground in the opening laps, propelling his No. 46 BSI Racing Toyota up the order after starting ninth.

However, his run would end early when he stopped his BSI machine on track at Turn 7A, bringing out a full-course yellow with just over 30 minutes remaining.

Later on, Legends driver John Lennon was hit and spun by the stablemate Beltre Curtis, triggering the race’s second caution period for the recovery of the No. 5 Copeland Motorsports machine, with Curtis also collecting a time penalty for the incident.

RESULTS: Race 2

This report was updated with the most recent information as of 4:50 p.m. PST on March 30.

Kyle Washington was declared the winner in Sunday’s rain-soaked and incident-filled second GT America powered by AWS race of the weekend at Sonoma Raceway that ended early due to barrier repairs from an accident.

The GMG Racing driver survived the treacherous conditions that saw numerous spins and accidents over the 40-minute scheduled race, which largely ran behind the safety car.

Washington, who started second on the grid, took his No. 32 Porsche 911 GT3 R into the lead on the first green flag lap when pole-sitter George Kurtz spun his No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in Turn 8.

It was followed by spins by Elias Sabo and Ross Chouest at the start/finish line that resulted in the first yellow due to Chouest’s stalled No. 50 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Kurtz also crashed for a second time, ending his race early.

A restart at the halfway mark quickly turned to another yellow when the No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Curt Swearingin got into the No. 188 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Denny Stripling, sending both cars into the barriers.

The race did not return to green flag running, with the checkered flag coming out six minutes early amid increasingly challenging track conditions as well as needed barrier repairs.

It marked Washington’s first career GT America victory.

The No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Justin Rothberg finished second, ahead of Mirco Schultis, who scored his second podium finish of the weekend in his Callaway C7 GT3-R.

Max Hewitt took top class honors in GT4 in his No. 39 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo, ahead of class pole-sitter Anthony McIntosh.

Both drivers were mixing it up within the SRO3 class cars in the limited time of green flag running.

Eight of the 13 starters were classified at the finish.

RESUTS: Race 2

Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS “needs to adjust” to the evolving sports car racing landscape according to SRO America President and CEO Greg Gill, who said evaluations to the series’ format are underway for the 2025 season.

A total of 12 GT3 cars took part in last weekend’s season-opening rounds at Sonoma Raceway, marking a decrease in 2023’s average of 18 entries, which has sparked discussion in the paddock on possible adjustments to attract additional entrants.

While no changes are expected over the course of this season, which is expected to see incremental growth with several new entries already having been announced, Gill told Sportscar365 that preliminary talks are ongoing with series stakeholders for the future.

“When we finished up at the Indy 8 Hour [last year], we met with all of the manufacturers and the the overwhelming sense after the results from Indy were very positive about the grid for 2024,” he said.

“We were very conservative on our estimates that initially came out, much lower than what everyone told us was going to happen. We were flattered by the European teams saying how great the grid was and what they viewed for racing in SRO America.

“Then the reality of the entires [for 2024] was there and it didn’t match what everyone had set was so good.

“There were commercial reasons that people expressed, whether it was vehicles not being available and several other [reasons].

“However, we agree with the paddock and have been in conversations with the teams having those type of conversations about what’s best.

“Using Watkins Glen in 2018 that had six [GT3] cars, [you could say] we’re double that, but no, [it’s] not good.

“The rest of SRO around the world runs grids in the lows 20s, certainly in the 30s and as high as the 50s.

“To have 12 cars is absolutely unacceptable to us.

“We need to adjust and do what’s right for the marketplace so we’re having the discussions with the teams now about what that will look like for 2025.”

Gill downplayed the prospects of adding GT4 cars to the Fanatec GT America grid, as suggested by several competitors.

“We haven’t really thought about combining with GT4,” he said. “I don’t think that’s something [that’s for us].

“Certainly in British GT it’s done there but it hasn’t been something we’ve heard from a lot of teams here.

“We have success with that in British GT but it does max out really rapidly.

“When you have 28 cars [last] weekend in GT4 and you have even 12 [Fanatec GT] cars, then you have 40 cars. How’s that going to work out?

“On most grids in North America that would be very challenging.”

Gill instead believes that growth could come with the burgeoning GT2 platform, which is eligible in the series this year but has yet to see a confirmed entrant, outside of cars in GT America powered by AWS.

“It looks like at Long Beach in GT America, we’ll have four or five GT2s,” he said. “There’s a possibility there with something [for Fanatec GT America].

“I think format is [also] going to be the big [focus]. We’ve heard this since 2015 and talking with manufacturers that consider the format.

“When we increased [race lengths] and added refueling, that was at the request of the paddock. Now as everyone is looking at increased expenses, they’re now thinking about it differently.

“We’ll continue to get feedback here, this weekend [at Sonoma], and again at Sebring and then we’ll move forward, start sharing the feedback at COTA.

“I believe at VIR we’ll be able to talk with the paddock and say, ‘This looks like the direction we’re all in line with for 2025.’”

Gill said any potential changes will then be confirmed at its annual ‘State of the Series’ address at Road America in August.