CrowdStrike Racing Takes Watkins Glen Podium Finish
- CrowdStrike the presenting sponsor for SRO America weekend at Watkins Glen International
- Moses, Sofronas claim third-place finish in GT4 SprintX with CrowdStrike/AWS Audi
- Two events remain in 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge America Championship
WATKINS GLEN, NY (Sept. 4, 2019) – CrowdStrike enjoyed a successful weekend at Watkins Glen International for the resumption of the SRO America’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America Championship.
The Official Internet and Cloud Security Provider for SRO America, CrowdStrike also held the position of event presenting sponsor and collected some hardware to boot on the racetrack.
CrowdStrike Racing fielded entries in two SRO classes: George Kurtz and Colin Braun drove the No. 04 CrowdStrike/AWS/Accel/DXDT Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the Blancpain GT World Challenge America while CJ Moses and James Sofronas teamed in the No. 04 CrowdStrike/AWS Audi R8 LMS prepared by Global Motorsports Group (GMG) for the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX category.
Moses, Sofronas Finish on GT4 SprintX Podium
Moses and Sofronas closed the weekend with a third-place class finish in Sunday’s GT4 SprintX race to conclude Moses’ first season of professional competition. Each of the weekend rounds were one-hour races with a mandatory pit stop and driver change.
Moses drove the first 25 minutes and ran a measured pace throughout before handing the car over to Sofronas to the end. A late-race yellow and early checkered flag thwarted his charge through the field. Still, the pairing managed to gain four spots from the start in the No. 04 CrowdStrike/AWS Audi R8 LMS GT4.
“A podium finish is a great way to close our GT4 campaign with CrowdStrike, AWS and GMG Racing,” said CJ Moses. “I really enjoyed racing at such a historic track like Watkins Glen. This year has been a tremendous learning experience and one that I’ll always remember. Thanks to James and GMG Racing for a great season. It’s my hope that this is just the beginning!”
On Saturday, the Moses/Sofronas pairing started strong with a second-place starting position. However, an early-race caution went against the planned race strategy for the CrowdStrike/AWS Audi. Still, the duo managed a fourth-place run for another solid points haul.
“It was a pleasure for GMG Racing to partner with CJ, CrowdStrike and AWS on this GT4 program,” Sofronas said. “I’m glad we could come away with a couple of podium finishes in CJ’s first season. He should be very encouraged by his performance as it’s a big jump to the professional level of racing.”
Top-Five Results for Kurtz, Braun in GT World Challenge
George Kurtz and Colin Braun solidified their championship standings Saturday and Sunday with top-five finishes in two 90-minute races for the Blancpain GT World Challenge America series.
“Thanks to Colin and everyone at DXDT Racing for their continued efforts in pushing the program forward,” Kurtz said. “It was a great weekend at historic Watkins Glen and we are very happy with our participation and visibility within the SRO America championship.”
The duo in the No. 04 CrowdStrike/AWS/Accel/DXDT Mercedes-AMG GT3 endured a rough start to Race One on Saturday. Kurtz, who qualified fifth in class, made a solid start and was looking to move up in his stint. Unfortunately, he had to pit on the opening lap with damage to the Mercedes from an incident not of his making.
Despite losing time to the extra stop, Kurtz and Braun both drove solid races to soldier home with a fourth-place class finish – just missing their third podium finish of the year.
Sunday’s race was a better start for Braun, who began from the sixth position. He made up a couple of spots early and continued on for the balance of his 50-minute run. Kurtz drove the final trouble-free 40 minutes to come home fifth in the CrowdStrike Mercedes.
“George had a great drive on Saturday and Sunday and the CrowdStrike team had great execution all weekend long,” Braun said. “It was a solid weekend but we definitely want more. Looking forward to Road America in a couple weeks!”
Partnership with Operation Motorsport
In addition to the racing action at Watkins Glen, CrowdStrike, AWS, DXDT and GMG Racing were honored to host two former military service members as honorary crew in both the GT and GT4 programs over the weekend. The mission of Operation Motorsport is to aid and prepare military veterans for potential future careers in motorsports following their heroic service in the U.S. military.
For the Blancpain GT World Challenge program, CrowdStrike Racing and DXDT Racing hosted Sergeant Major Jason Leach. His experience over the weekend was part of what he hopes is a future career as a team manager or team owner in motorsport. On the GT4 side, Sergeant First Class (SFC) David J. Meyer assisted the CrowdStrike/GMG effort by running tires and taking trackside photography.
CrowdStrike returns to sportscar racing when the Blancpain GT World Challenge America visits Road America on Sept. 20-22. For more information, visit CrowdStrikeRacing.com.
ABOUT CROWDSTRIKE®
CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity technology company, is the leader in cloud-delivered endpoint protection. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform offers instant visibility and protection across the enterprise and prevents attacks on endpoints on or off the network. CrowdStrike Falcon deploys in minutes to deliver actionable intelligence and real-time protection from Day One. It seamlessly unifies next-generation AV with best-in-class endpoint detection and response, backed by 24/7 managed hunting. Its cloud infrastructure and single-agent architecture take away complexity and add scalability, manageability, and speed.
ABOUT DXDT RACING
DXDT Racing LLC is a high-performance sports car racing team founded by team principal David Askew in 2014 and located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Team’s primary focus is on GT3 and GT4 racing in North America. The team has fielded cars in various racing series such as SRO’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America, IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge, and Lamborghini’s Super Trofeo series. Although the team is young, DXDT is comprised of a group of highly experienced professionals with championship winning backgrounds.
ABOUT GMG RACING
Founded in 2001, GMG has quickly established itself as North America’s premier performance tuning facility. What began as a small 1200 sq. ft. shop, maintaining two race cars, has grown into a 30,000 sq. ft. state of the art performance tuning, racing and service facility located in (Orange County) Santa Ana, California. The staff, attention to detail and passion are what make GMG the choice of professionals and enthusiasts worldwide. Learn more at gmgracing.com.
Photos: Sideline Sports Photography, LLC, Darkside Of The Moon
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