Group-A Racing Dominates at Sonoma: Wins Platinum Class Championship and Re-Writes Record Books
With championship titles on the line, Group-A Racing takes home a lot of hardware and re writes the record books.
Per the norm in Blue Marble Cocktails Radical Cup, the weekend started with a full Friday with many hours of track time for the competitors. All three drivers showed very good pace and promise throughout the day, leading into qualifying and race one on Saturday.
With tire wear being a big issue for the high horsepower turbocharged Radical SR10’s at Sonoma Raceway, tire strategy and management would be a key factor. The team would elect to only do 2 flying laps in qualifying, looking to keep the tires as fresh as possible for Jenks. With that, he was able to put the car on outside pole, just missing by .063 of a second! Aurora Strauss would qualify a strong 4th in PRO 1500, only a few tenths off pole. Reid Stewart qualified 2nd in PRO 1340 with a small margin to the pole sitter's time.
Race 1 would see Jenks haunting Judd Miller from the very start in the Platinum class. Not giving him any room to breathe, Jenks was finally able to find a way past him, mid race, never looking back, to take the win with the fastest lap of the race. In PRO 1500 Aurora would jump hometown local, Will Lin, on the initial start with an aggressive maneuver. She then set her sights on series veterans, Greg Gorski & Palmer Miller. Initially, she lost some ground to both of them, but then by mid race started to reel them back in with tremendous pace. She would catch the leading duo and find a way past championship leader Palmer Miller, now haunting Greg Gorski, as the two traded fastest lap of the race back and forth. With few laps remaining, an unfortunate car issue would cause Gorski to pull over while battling with Aurora, giving her the lead and pulling away from Palmer, never looking back, and capturing the win in PRO 1500! In PRO 1340 it was yet another 3-way battle between Reid Stewart, Austin Riley and Mike Anzaldi. Anzaldi and Riley would tangle at the end of the opening lap, giving Stewart the lead. From there, he put his head down to build a gap over the rest of the field, and set fastest lap of the race in route to victory in PRO 1340! This was the first time in series history that a team has ever swept victory in all 3 classes in the same race. The history books were also re written with Aurora Straus becoming the first female winner in series history.
Race 2 saw Jenks start on pole in Platinum class but would lose the lead off the jump to Judd Miller this time. Just as the previous race, the two were nose-to-tail the entire time, neither driver making a mistake. John Field would eventually catch the 2 with his new tires from not starting race 1 and pass Steve for 2nd with a lap remaining. The top 3 would finish on each other's gearbox. The 3rd place would essentially lock the Platinum class championship for Jenks, with him only needing to start the final race later that afternoon. In PRO 1500 Aurora would start outside pole to Palmer Miller. She got a good initial jump, but would lose ground in the first third of the race. But with the team’s setup to last the entire race, she came to life again in her Richard Mille/Monticello Motor Club SR3 and start to run down Palmer Miller. She would eventually catch him and force him into a mistake to take the lead. The next lap, Miller would pass to obtain the lead with a three-wide move with Aurora and lap traffic. But the lap after that Aurora re took the lead again, this time never looking back checking out, to now also win race 2 in PRO 1500! It was a fantastic drive, proving the day before was not a fluke. In PRO 1340 Reid Stewart would start from pole, but it was a very different race to the day prior. He had championship leader Austin Riley & defending series champion Mike Anzaldi breathing down his neck during the entire 40 minute event. Stewart put on his best performance of the year, ripping off immensely fast and consistent laps, never putting a foot wrong, to give his rivals a chance, and he too would win race 2 in PRO 1340!
Race 3 is always exciting with the pit stop that occurs only in race 3. Steve Jenks would start outside pole to John Field, and initially Field would get away. During the pit stop the team timed it perfectly for Jenks to jump to the lead with a big gap. Unfortunately, a late yellow would put John Field close to Jenks with much fresher tires. Jenks held him off for a bit, but did not put up a huge fight, with the big picture in mind. Jenks would capture another podium finishing 2nd. With that, he captured the Platinum Class Drivers Championship! Aurora would start 3rd in PRO 1500 behind two hometown locals Will Lin & Joe Nuxoll. Again, she did a great job in getting off the initial start and was now hounding Will Lin for the lead. Just like Jenks, the team timed her pit stop perfectly for her to leapfrog to the lead. She was in the lead for the late race restart when suddenly started to not feel well and really struggle. She held on as best she could to capture another podium result of 3rd. In PRO 1340 Reid Stewart would once again start from pole and it was dejavu from the previous race with his rivals on his rear wing all nose-to-tail. Stewart continued to execute the perfect race yet again, never wavering the entire time. On the final lap he would have a small error, just enough for savvy defending champ Mike Anzaldi to find a way past and Reid would have to settle for 2nd.
Steve Jenks would earn the driver’s championship in Platinum class, Group-A would earn the team championship in PRO 1500, Reid Stewart finished 3rd in the PRO 1340 championship and won Rookie Of The Year honors. Group-A Racing has been involved in Blue Marble Radical Cup for 3 years, 2 of which they have had a full season rookie, both of them now having earned the rookie title, a great testament to how they develop and work with their drivers.
“There are truly no words to describe this weekend” stated team owner Jonathan Scarallo. “I can ramble forever on how proud I am of everybody in this team, both drivers and crew. We obviously highlighted the weekend with the championships and rookie title. Having rewritten the record book the way we did, it's truly a special unforgettable weekend. Motor racing is a cruel sport where there are a lot more mediocre-bad weekends then good, and we had a beyond phenomenal one. This is such an incredible way to end a season and go into the off season with great momentum for the 2023 season!”