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 Pulsar NX/Nissan EXA sold from 1987 to 1990 and the Nissan Sunny Coupe lines of the 1970s and 1980s, merging the Nis ...

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 road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

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 and services, and with expansions into e-commerce, software, and other technologies. The company was founded by Arthur Pitney, who ...

, 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 Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club si ...

, driving an Oldsmobile Calais in the Super Production class. In his lone outing that season at Road America, 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 region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. 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 Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club ...

in 2008 at

New Jersey Motorsports Park New Jersey Motorsports Park is a Road racing, road course "Motorsports Entertainment Complex" located in Millville, New Jersey, Millville, Cumberland County, New Jersey, Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. It has hosted races since openi ...

, 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 and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

, beginning with a one-off appearance at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Rancho ...

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 Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club si ...

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

Laurens Vanthoor Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He currently resides in Waiblingen outside of Stuttgart. ...

and Mathieu Jaminet, Sofronas took the SprintX title by just 13 points over

Jan Heylen Jan Heylen (born 1 May 1980 in Geel) is a championship-winning 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 ...

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.

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 Porsche, Ferrari,

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, and BMW 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 GT America Series,

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 Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club si ...

. 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

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accompanying Sofronas' titles. In 2021, the team added a title in the inaugural season of the GT America Series with customer driver Jason Bell. The team also works closely with Audi Sport, 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. At the

SRO GT Anniversary The SRO GT Anniversary by Peter Auto was a one off auto racing event held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, on 28-30 July 2022. The races were contested with GT1, GT2 and GT3-spec cars. The event promoters are Peter Auto and the Stép ...

, 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. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufactu ...

, 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. In 2021, the team expanded their relationship with Italian manufacturer Lamborghini, 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 for sponsorships reasons) is a Chinese sports car racing team that currently competes in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe. History Founding Founded in 2014, the team came about as a res ...

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.

References

External links

James Sofronas
at Motorsport.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sofronas, James 1968 births Living people American racing drivers 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