Martin Fuentes led two Ferrari teams in qualifying Saturday morning for the Showdown in the Golden State, a pair of 90-minute races as the SRO GT World Challenge America hosts its third weekend of the season at California’s Sonoma Raceway. Qualifying was held in sunny but chilly 63-degree conditions at the scenic circuit set in the heart of wine country.
Pro-Am. Squadra Corse enters the weekend tied for the Pro-Am points lead with drivers Martin Fuentes and Rodrigo Baptista co-driving the No. 1 Hublot Ferrari 488 GT3. Fuentes was bumped from the pole in the closing minutes of the opening session. The five-time champion wound up second in Pro-Am and third overall, with a best lap of 1:39.204-seconds in the No. 1 Ferrari 488 GT3. Fuentes spun and hit a curb near the 10-minute mark, sending his Ferrari to the pits. The team worked on the car to fix minor damage from the incident, sending Baptista out in the opening minutes of the second session. He managed to qualify third in the class with a lap of 1:37.977-seconds, and will start the second race on the outside of the second row. Meanwhile, the No. 24 Ferrari 488 GT3 of Ziad Ghandour and Jeff Segal managed to qualify fourth in class for both race 1 and race 2. Setting off in the opening qualifying session, Ghandour secured a time of 1:41. 481 seconds, while Segal claimed his fourth-place start in race 2 with a best lap of 1:37.985.
Schedule. Saturday’s 90-minute race is set for 1:45 p.m. (all times PT), with the Sunday event starting at 1:15 p.m. Both races and qualifying will be streamed live on Competizione GT live, with the Sunday event also broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network.