By Tarek Ramchani
It was a kind of complete domination for Mike Skeen and the CRP Racing team at Sonoma. The Hawk Performance driver and team took a flag to flag Pirelli World Challenge race 1 victory.
The day started very well for Mike Skeen, he took a great pole position with his #2 Audi R8 LMS ultra. Later in the race he never lost the race lead. He crossed the finish line victorious ahead of the Porsche 997 GT3-R of Ryan Dalziel (EFFORT Racing) and the Bentley Continental GT3 (Dyson Racong) of Butch Leitzinger.
Mike Skeen and Audi collected big point in the battles for Pirelli World Challenge drivers' and manufacturers' championship titles.
Another Audi driver who performed very well was Andrew Palmer. The GMG Racing driver finished in a strong fourth place with his #21 Audi R8 LMS ultra. Palmer challenged Butch Leitzinger for the third spot on the podium but the time was running out.
James Sofronas the team-onwer of GMG Racing finished in seventh place with the #14 Audi. Jeff Courtney was twelfth overall and second within the GT-A class with the #99 R8 LMS ultra from JCR Motorsports.
Brent Holden with the #44 Audi from GMG Racing was fourteenth overall and fourth in GT-A. Bill Ziegler was seventeenth with the #95 car from GMG Racing.
Sonoma race 1 results can be seen here.
Photo credit: Pirelli World Challenge / Melissa K. Smith
