Indy cars highlight weekend

Practices set for Friday, racing Saturday and Sunday|

Sonoma Raceway will host an action-packed weekend of racing at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, Sept. 15-17, as the Pirelli World Challenge Series, Formula Car Challenge Series and the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge share the weekend with the Verizon IndyCar Series season finale.

New for 2017, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama makes its first-ever stop at Sonoma Raceway. The IMSA-sanctioned series is one of the largest of Porsche’s 20 single-make Cup Challenge series in the world.

The series produces intense, exciting competition for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the worlds most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche GT3 Cup. The Porsches will hit the track for main events on Saturday (12:45 p.m.) and Sunday (12:15 p.m.)

In addition, the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) returns to Sonoma Raceway for the seventh consecutive year featuring doubleheader racing in both the Grand Touring (GT) and Grand Touring Sport (GTS) classes. The series features world-class drivers and no scheduled pit stops or driver changes. PWC has the biggest collection of manufacturers racing in one series overall with more than 25 auto makers and 38 different models.

It is North America’s top GT production-based series with the most exotic sports cars from Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren, Cadillac, Audi, Acura and many more.

The weekend will feature GT and GTS practice on Friday, with qualifying and race 1 in each class on Saturday and a second race in each class on Sunday. To provide audiences with a dynamic show throughout race weekend, Saturday’s GTS class will begin with a rolling start, while the series’ traditional standing start will be used for Sunday’s main GTS event. The GT class will feature rolling starts throughout the weekend.

The weekend will also feature open-wheel racing in three classes of the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear (FCC) series. This will mark the sixth time the Formula Car Challenge (FCC) will be paired with the Verizon IndyCar Series in the Sonoma Valley. The 14-race series features three classes of vehicles on track at the same time, each competing for points and championships only within their respective classes.

This will mark the sixth time the FCC will be paired with the Verizon IndyCar Series in the Sonoma Valley. Past events have had over 30 cars on the grid, making this one of the largest open-wheel races in the country.

The headliner of the event is the Verizon IndyCar Series, which will crown its champion following the 85-lap GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sunday. This marks the third consecutive year the open-wheel series concludes its season on the 12-turn Sonoma Valley road course. The series championship has come down to the final race since 2006, including last year when Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud claimed his first ever Verizon IndyCar Series championship. He led 76 of 85 laps from the pole position to take the checkered flag 3.25 seconds ahead of Graham Rahal.

Tickets are still available for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, Sept. 15-17, including the Total Access Package, which includes a reserved-seat ticket and a garage/pit/pre-race pass for $99. Kids 12 and under are admitted free and parking is free all weekend. For more information, visit sonomaraceway.com/indycar or call 800-870-7223.

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