James Sofronas (born September 9, 1968) is an American racing driver and the founder of Global Motorsports Group.

Motorsports career

Sofronas began his racing career in the early 1990s, purchasing a

Nissan NX The Nissan NX is a front wheel drive 2-door sports car produced by Nissan Motors. The NX was, loosely, an evolution of the Nissan EXA, Nissan Pulsar NX/Nissan EXA sold from 1987 to 1990 and the Nissan Sunny Coupe lines of the 1970s and 1980s, merg ...

2000 which was eligible for the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...

SSB category. In order to make enough money to race it, Sofronas worked as a salesman at

Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes Inc. is an American technology company most known for its postage meters and other mailing equipment, services, and other technologies. The company was founded by Arthur Pitney, who invented the first commercially available postage m ...

, using the street-legal car on sales calls despite the fact it had no air conditioning unit. In 1994, he acquired an SCCA Pro Racing license and took part in the

SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 20 ...

, driving an

Oldsmobile Achieva The Oldsmobile Achieva is a front-wheel drive compact sedan and coupe that was introduced by Oldsmobile for the 1992 model year. The Achieva was based on the GM N-body platform, which it also shared with its siblings the Pontiac Grand Am and Buick ...

in the Super Production class, which he rented from Chuck Hemingson for $1,800. In his lone outing that season at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

, Sofronas finished 9th in class. Sofronas began racing under the GMG Racing banner in the early 2000s; the team is used to advertise his auto tuning service he operates out of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. He scored his first victory in the then-

Speed World Challenge The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 20 ...

in 2008 at

New Jersey Motorsports Park New Jersey Motorsports Park is a road course "Motorsports Entertainment Complex" located in Millville, Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. It has hosted races since opening in 2008 and currently hosts a schedule including MotoAmerica ...

, en route to a fourth-placed finish in the championship. He would finish runner-up in the GT class the following season, scoring two wins and four podiums. That same season, Sofronas began competing in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

, beginning with a one-off appearance at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

with co-driver Bret Curtis, where the duo finished fifth in class. Sofronas and GMG Racing would continue to run a partial schedule in the series until 2012. In 2017, Sofronas claimed a pair of titles in the

Pirelli World Challenge The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2 ...

, claiming the overall GTA title and the SprintX GT Pro/Am title. Partnering with

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

factory drivers

Laurens Vanthoor Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgium, Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche in motorsport, Porsche Motorsport as a Factory-backed, factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He currently reside ...

and

Mathieu Jaminet Mathieu Jaminet (born 24 October 1994) is a French racing driver. He is currently employed by Porsche as a factory driver and participates primarily in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Jaminet originally began pursuing a career in ...

, Sofronas took the SprintX title by just 13 points over

Jan Heylen Jan Heylen (born 1 May 1980) is a Belgium, Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida. Racing career Early career (1992-2004) He began karting in 1992, and worked his way up through various feeder series through the years including the ...

and Michael Schein. He scored 11 class victories in 19 starts between the two championships that season. He followed his championship haul in 2017 with two more in 2018, this time competing in GT4 machinery. Sofronas and co-driver Alex Welch claimed the SprintX GTS title, while Sofronas alone won the GTS class title overall. In 2023, Sofronas began his 30th season of competition under the World Challenge/ SRO America umbrella, fielding the first Audi R8 LMS Evo II on American soil. During the

GT America Series The GT America Series is a sports car racing series based in the United States which runs as a support series to the GT World Challenge America. It is managed by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation and sanctioned by the United States Auto Club. Hi ...

event at

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Pr ...

, Sofronas tallied his 350th World Challenge/SRO event appearance.

GMG Racing

Sofronas and business partner Fabrice Kutyba founded Global Motorsports Group (GMG) in 2001, an aftermarket tuning service with a particular focus on European luxury marques. The two opened a shop in 2006, before upgrading to a 16,000 square-foot facility two years later. In August 2021, GMG opened temporary 8,000 square-foot shop at the Thermal Club, with plans to have a 23,000 square-foot facility completed at the site by summer 2023. The company services

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

, and

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

models, among others. Services include standard maintenance such as oil changes, as well as performance tuning. The group also operates a customer racing program in the SRO America umbrella of series, including the

GT4 America Series The GT4 America Series is a sports car racing series based in the United States. In 2019, the series was relaunched with the explicit GT4 title, following the alignment in 2017 of the Pirelli World Challenge series "GTS" class with SRO GT4, and t ...

, and

GT World Challenge America The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 20 ...

. Their racing endeavors are closely intertwined with their tuning operations, with a series of World Challenge-based performance products being released in 2008. The team has won a number of titles in the

, including a 2017 GTSA class victory for

George Kurtz George Kurtz (born October 14, 1970) is an American businessman. He is a co-founder and chief executive officer of CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity technology company. He founded Foundstone, a security products and anti-virus software company, an ...

accompanying Sofronas' titles. In 2021, the team added a title in the inaugural season of the

with customer driver Jason Bell. The team also works closely with

Audi Sport {{Commons category, World Rally Championship teams Teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of ...

, debuting and competing with the marque's racing cars. In 2012, GMG Racing became the first American providers of the new

R8 LMS GT3. In September 2019, Sofronas took part in the global debut of the Audi R8 LMS GT2 at the

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

. At the SRO GT Anniversary, Sofronas fielded an

Audi R8 LMS ultra The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. Production ended in the first quarter of 2024. The car is ...

, one of just two in the field. Ahead of the 2023 season, the team acquired an Audi R8 LMS Evo II, and were awaiting delivery of a Type-992

Porsche 911 GT3 R The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a range of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

. In 2021, the team expanded their relationship with Italian manufacturer

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

, acquiring a Huracán GT3 Evo as part of a partnership with

FFF Racing Team FFF Racing Team by ACM (known as Rexal FFF Racing Team and previously Orange1 FFF Racing Team for sponsorship reasons) was a Chinese sports car racing team that competed in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, GT World Challenge Europe, and GT ...

Racing record

Career summary

^* Season still in progress.

Complete American Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

^*Season still in progress.

References

External links

James Sofronas
at Motorsport.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sofronas, James 1968 births Living people American Le Mans Series drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers GT World Challenge America drivers W Racing Team drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers Racing drivers from California Racing drivers from New York (state) 24 Hours of Spa drivers Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers