Sonoma NASCAR 2015

I had a weekend to kill in California and was lucky enough to find it was the very weekend that NASCAR came to town in Sonoma at what used to be called Sears Point Raceway. Funnily enough i had been considering doing the European NASCAR race on the Tours oval the same weekend before finding myself in the USA; thus I was going to see the real thing rather than a copy.  Being somewhat adverse to crowds I decided to just do the Saturday qualifying.  But at least I would get to see one of the classic California tracks and the NASCAR boys going flat out in qualifying.  On arrival I found there were some actual races as well - an added bonus.

Porsche GT3 Qualifying.
Intent to avoid anything resembling traffic, I arrived early but luckily the Porsche GT3 Cup final practice started at 8.15am.  Apparently this was the first time that the Porsche GT3 cars had competed at a NASCAR weekend.

The motor homes and flags are very typical of a NASCAR weekend, the Porsche GT3s were something new.

My first view of the track was the Esses; I was sold on this track immediately.

Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy car driven by Michael Zuieback entering turn 2 with empty grandstands this early in the morning.

There are apparently 21 one-make Porsche series in the World.  I had seen the French one at Le Mans earlier in 2015 and now I was seeing the USA series at Sonoma.  This is Albert Salvo at turn 2.

NASCAR Pro Series West Qualifying

This is a feeder series for NASCAR and has a mixture of young talent and older drivers who enjoy driving NASCAR style cars.  This was the qualiying for the Carneros 200 later in the day.

The mountains provides a great backdrop to the Sonoma Raceway as rookie Nicole Behar speeds by. She already has a second place to her credit this year but here she could only qualify in 31st place.

The Pro-Series cars generate quite a lot of roll.  This is the car of Johnny Borneman who qualified 34th but came up the field in the race into eleventh spot.

Johnny White makes a smoky entry into turn 2 on his way to qualifying 22nd.

Tim Spurgeon who qualified 23rd riding the turn 2 kerbs.

NASCAR fans enjoying the sun and cars at Sonoma Raceway.

The No.1 car of Jim inglebright who qualified 14th comes through a dust cloud into view.

Many of the Pro Series drivers had an affinity with the kerbs, including Tom Souza in this Ford who qualified 19th.

Carlos Vierakicks up a little dust at Sonoma's turn 2.

David Mayhew's Chevrolet at speed coming out of turn 2 on his way to pole position.

NASCAR QUALIFYING

At 11.15 it was time for the real thing, the Drive for Safety NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying.  There was quite a cheer when Jeff Gordon came round, he is very popular being a local lad and having been a five time winner here.  This year is his swan song as he is retiring from NASCAR at the end of the year.

Jeff Gordon in his famous No.24 Chevrolet.  He was to qualify fifth but only finished sixteenth in his last NASCAR race at Sonoma.

It was to end up being Kyle Busch's weekend with a late win in the M&Ms Crispy Toyota.  He had qualified eleventh.

Paul Menard tries too hard and goes wide in his Chevrolet as he only manages to qualify thirty second.

Ricky Stenhouse attacking the kerbs in his Ford.  He only qualified fortieth but moved up the field to twentieth in the race.

Jimmy Johnson's Chevrolet leads Aric Almirola's Ford.  jimmy Johnson just mised out on the top twelve run off in qualifying and thus started thirteenth.  In the race in finished sixth.

Alex Kennedy in the Dream Factory Chervolet who qualified 36th.

Matt Kenseth in the Dollar General Toyota who qualified on the second row of the grid in third place.

Alex Bowman in the Chevrolet who qualified 41st in this large field.

Dale Earnhardt Jnr's Chevrolet with Ricky Stenhouse's Ford in his draft.  Dale could only qualify twentieth but moved up to seventh in the race.

Justin Marks in the Dockside Logistics Ford who qualified thirty fifth.

Danica Patrick qualified 21st in her Chevrolet

There was a top twelve run off for pole position.

Brad Keselowski's Ford between turns 1 and 2.  He qualified in tenth place for a fifth row grid position.

Clint Bowyer's Toyota that qualified sixth and finished third.

Casey Mear's Chevrolet that qualified eighth but had a rear axle failure in the race.

He was fast through much of practice but only qualified eleventh.  However, in the race he did well in only his fifth race after breaking a leg and foot and Daytona and came through to win.

Tony Stewart in the Mobil Chevrolet qualified seventh.

David Ragan qualified ninth.

Kyle larson qualified fourth in his Chevrolet.

Kurt Busch was on second place on the grid but was beaten into second place by his younger brother in the race after having led 43 laps.

AJ Allmendinger took pole position but was not so lucky in the race.

Lunchtime in the paddock

Truck after truck after truck in the paddock

There is never rest for the wicked, mechanics that is!

Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy USA Race 1

The first actual race I saw at Sonoma was for Porsche GT3 cars.

The Porsche GT3 pack heads into turn 2 on lap one of the first race

The GT3 field consisted of a number of classes for Porsche 991, 997 and 996 cars of various ages.  The classes are named Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver.

The field heads into turn 3 through the heat haze.

Michael Zuieback came fourth overall and in the Diamond class after 29 laps

Will Lin in the red car finished a lap behind in tenth place.

This was battle for the lead with the eventual winner being car No.20 of Fred Poordad.

Although Steve Goldman in the white and green No3 car is still close to the leader in this picture he eventually dropped back to finish 14 second behind.

Close racing at turn 2 - Car No.18 drive by Mike Mcalister eventually finished third.and car No. 8 driven by John Scarlett seventh.

Car 69 of Robert Rodriguez eventually finished fifteenth.

The No 49 car of Alessandro Chioccetti finished fifth.

Carneros 200 - NASCAR Pro Series West Race

The second race of the weekend was a over 64 laps of this 1.9 mile circuit and featured a large field for these junior NASCAR cars.

Following the pace lap the lights go green and the race is on under the hot California sun.

In the early laps Ryan Partidge's Ford leads the similar car of James Bickford

Ron Norman leads Jim Weller into turn 10

Grazin Raz's Ford with the Main Grandstand in the background

Johnny Bornemann at speed through turn 9.  He finished 11th in this Chevrolet.

Cole Buster in the NAPA Toyota leads a group out of the Esses.

During one of three pace car periods the cars head into turn nine with the main grandstands behind them.

The battle for second, third and fifth places goes under the leader board and through turn two. 

Shortly after the pace car period Austin Dillon's Chevrolet leads a long train of cars through the Esses.

Thomas Martin's Chevrolet leads another group through the Esses.

Toyota leads Chevrolet.

Spectators in the turn nine grandstands await the restart during the second pace car period.

Alex Schutte in the eighth placed Chevrolet

Plenty of room in the stands as Matt Tifft's Toyota chases a Ford.

Turn Seven is a great place for watching the action, here the cars are still very close after the restart.

Jim Inglebright's Chevrolet uses the kerbs for an overtaking manoeuvre on Rich DeLong III's Chevrolet.

Midfield battle at turn seven

Noah Gragson who eventually finished seventh leads a group under breaking for turn seven

Johnny White makes an ovetake into the Esses

Nicole Behar spins and tries to get going again as John Wood passes her.

Dave Mayhew ended up the winner in this MMI Racing Chevrolet

Three abreast along the straight.

Michael Shawhan gets dust kicked up into his windshield

A view of turn seven and the backdrop.

Time to say goodbye to Sonoma Raceway or Sear's point as i am still apt to call it.  I think I will be back one day, maybe one year for the Indy Cars!

To see more of my Motor Racing blogposts click here or on the Motor Sport button at the top of this page.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.