Pintos, Schmidt Sweep Sonoma Weekend

Photo: Dan Bathie/McLaren

Tommy Pintos and Spencer Schmidt claimed a sweep of the season-opening McLaren Trophy America weekend at Sonoma Raceway, doubling up following their last-gasp victory on Saturday.

Pintos and Schmidt claimed a more straightforward flag-to-flag victory in Sunday’s 50-minute contest in their No. 11 RWE Motorsport McLaren Artura Trophy EVO entry.

Having started on pole, McLaren GT3 Junior driver Pintos held command over the No. 5 GMG Racing entry Jeff Cook.

The top five cars, all with their pro drivers, waited until the end of the pit stop window to make their mandatory stops, which saw Schmidt emerge as the leader over the No. 53 RPM by Forte McLaren of Neil Langberg.

Schmidt drove to a 15.078-second win over the Pro class-winning No. 8 Forte Racing McLaren of Kaia Teo and Paul Holton, who made an impressive late-race charge.

Holton passed the sister No. 24 Forte McLaren of Tanner Harvey for the class win with three minutes to go after an intense battle between two cars until Harvey suffered a slight off-course moment.

It came after Teo was ordered to start the race from the rear of the field by race control.

Cooper Broll, meanwhile, doubled up with another Am class win in his No. 100 Forte entry, which finished fourth overall after pressuring Harvey for an overall position in the final two laps.

Richard James claimed a runner-up finish in Pro-Am in the No. 22 Greystone GT entry that he shared with Oliver Webb.

The duo benefited by a spin by Randy Highland in the No. 7 GMG entry with 15 minutes to go that dropped Highland to a third place class finish, in a car that was started by John Capestro-Dubets.

There was trouble again for the No. 74 RWE McLaren, which dropped out of Saturday’s race while in the lead, with James Li stopping on the track with a suspected electrical issue.

It was the race’s only retirement in the caution-free race.

RESULTS: Race 2

Source: Sports Car 365