Global Motorsport Group is a storied race team competing in three of SRO Motorsport America’s competitions. As one of the California-based teams participating in the GT Sonoma protected by Crowdstrike weekend, GMG is excited for a homegrown kick-off to 2023 road course racing.
GMG and driver James Sofronas kicked off the 2023 season with GT America powered by AWS on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, with the first of two street courses. Together, GMG and Sofronas earned back-to-back podium finishes. The team celebrates success and plans to orchestrate positive outcomes for its drivers.
“We are competitors with multiple championships to our name. That is evident,” said GMG Media and Race Logistics Manager Joe Foster. “But more importantly, we want our drivers to win and to be as competitive as possible. We strive to provide the most amazing experience for our clients and their guests.
“At the end of a weekend, if they leave with a smile and a trophy, that’s a good weekend. The most important thing is to remember this is fun, but being on the podium is always fun.”
Of highlights, GMG has a cinematic masterpiece of history to recall. The race team has operated for two decades; in that time, 11 championships and numerous wins have been accumulated. With the highs, GMG has learned to grow through the lows.
“As we head into our 21st year as a team and business, challenges have always been present,” Foster said. “James and the team never look back; it’s all about how we can improve moving forward and learn from our setbacks and strive to be better year in and year out.
“James is entering his 30th year in SRO America competition, and we think we must be doing something right since we’re still here and there is plenty of fight in this team. Our customer racing program continues to grow each year and with our new facility being built at The Thermal Club, the future looks bright.”
One specific memory and challenge came to mind for the team as a landmark moment when reflecting.
“We have a lot to be proud of, but I would have to say that winning the Long Beach GP back in 2009 would certainly be one of the highlights of our long and historic racing program,” Foster said. “There were some major efforts put forward by our competitors that year with budgets 10 times larger than ours.
“That race win put us on the map, not only in the SoCal Tuning world but with Porsche Motorsport North America. The race was literally 30 minutes from our shop, we had well over 150 clients, friends and family in attendance and to pull out a win on our home track was something special.”
While Sonoma Raceway may only partially be home, it will be home for GMG from Thursday, March 30, through Sunday, April 2. The trip from Santa Ana, California, to Sonoma County is seven hours. Still, for good reason, the team is working toward putting a couple more hours between it and Sonoma Raceway.
“GMG’s racing headquarters is currently located in Southern California in the heart of Orange County,” Foster said. “Our 30,000 sq ft. facility is home to both our racing program as well as our performance and service side for street cars. This is also our main shipping hub for daily national and international mail orders from our website and network of wholesale dealers worldwide.
“We are under construction for the future of our motorsport program to be located at The Thermal Club in the Palm Springs area, which will have a 28,000 sq ft premiere trackside location at Thermal. We will utilize this as the ultimate testing ground for race and street cars. But any track in California is a home track since there aren’t many on the west coast that runs with SRO America. We would love to return to Laguna Seca and the Long Beach GP, but until then, Sonoma will be our “home” race.”
Sofronas pairs with Tom Dyer in the No. 14 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVOII for the Fanatec World Challenge America powered by AWS. In GT America powered by AWS, Kyle Washington will pilot his Porsche GT3R, and in the Pirelli GT4 America, the team will run the No. 32 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Kyle Washington, where he will team up once again with James Sofronas.