Ofir Levy Joins Kyle Washington and Team Founder James Sofronas in 2024 Lineup
GMG Racing has announced a three-car, multiclass entry in the 2024 IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship. Longtime team driver Kyle Washington, debuting Carrera Cup driver Ofir Levy and GMG Racing founder and principal James Sofronas will compete in 2024. Washington and Sofronas are set to bring GMG Racing back to Sebring International Raceway next month for the season-opening Carrera Cup doubleheader for the team’s first race on the legendary airport road course since 2022.
“The Carrera Cup season starts off with three big events in a row at Sebring and then in support of the Formula 1 races at Miami and Montreal,” Sofronas said. “Kyle Washington and I will start our campaign at the Sebring opener and we are looking forward to it. Kyle is now eligible in the new Masters class while, despite being 55 years old, I am competing in the Pro-Am division. It’s been six years since I last drove at Sebring but we will all get up to speed quickly.”
Washington returns to Carrera Cup in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car while Sofronas is back in his No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche. Both drivers enjoyed Carrera Cup success last year, with Washington delivering GMG’s first major podium finish of the season with a third-place showing in the opening sprint at the Miami race and Sofronas sweeping the Pro-Am class victories in his series debut at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
“I’m totally stoked to be able to race some of the Porsche Carrera Cup venues this year in completely sold-out fields,” Washington said. “Only Carrera Cup can put on the big shows at the F1 race weekends or other blockbuster events like last year’s Rennsport Reunion. I firmly believe that there is no higher-end spec racing than Carrera Cup. Being a Canadian citizen, I’m really looking forward to the Montreal F1 race. Those French-Canadian people are wild and some of the world’s best race fans! If you’ve never been, make sure you hit that one.”
Levy is in the cadre of GMG Racing’s driver development program based at The Thermal Club in California, where GMG opens its new headquarters facility this summer.
“I’m really excited to be racing in Carrera Cup with GMG Racing,” Levy said. “These are bucket-list events alongside Formula 1 this season. I’ve known James and the GMG team for a while and have watched their program grow at The Thermal Club. It’s my first Porsche race car, we’ve already begun testing and I can’t wait to get out there!”
Levy will makes his Carrera Cup debut at the Miami weekend in May.
“Ofir Levy, who is a Thermal member, a friend of ours and a current client, just bought a Carrera Cup car and is going to do three or four races,” Sofronas said. “Kyle and I will get things started at Sebring and Ofir will then join us at Miami. He has shown great progress in a large amount of laps and races in ‘Winter Series’ competition at Thermal and both he and GMG Racing are ready to help him take another step up our racing ladder.”
Sofronas realizes the additional importance of competing in Carrera Cup North America for both his drivers and GMG Racing as a leader in the Porsche street performance tuning industry.
“Carrera Cup is important for GMG because it is the highest level of Porsche single-make series in North America,” Sofronas said. “In our street car performance tuning business, we really like to take advantage of the data transfer and gain some knowledge on that chassis as it parlays into the 992 GT3 and RS Porsches we offer. Our Carrera Cup racing is key to the chassis development and tuning for the street car. We are putting race slicks on the street cars, adjusting the suspension and using all of the knowledge from Carrera Cup racing to apply to that. That is a direct carryover that is a big advantage for our customer base.”
As a driver, Sofronas made his mark in Carrera Cup last year in what was remarkably his series debut at the COTA weekend. Adding to the achievement was the fact that Sofronas pulled off the Pro-Am clean sweep in his first major race weekend since recovering from a back injury sustained last summer in a race testing incident. He improved several positions in both COTA races, climbing from fourth on the starting grid on Saturday and second on Sunday for the pair of victories.
“For me personally, and as the owner of GMG, it was very rewarding and emotional to finish the year like we did at COTA, and our goal is nothing short of continuing that level of competition right out of the box at Sebring,” Sofronas said. “The last time I raced at Sebring was in a four-hour endurance race with Jason Bell and Andy Lally in 2018, and we finished second in an Audi R8 GT4. Kyle closed last year’s Carrera Cup season strong at COTA in a stacked field with a pair of top-five finishes, and I think the ‘respect the bumps’ nature of Sebring will suit his driving style. He is looking forward to turning his first laps at Sebring. He has never been there before, and that is kind of why he is going.”
The season-opening Porsche Carrera Cup North America doubleheader takes place at Sebring from March 13-15. Round 1 starts at 4:50 p.m. ET Thursday, March 14, with the second 40-minute race at 7:15 p.m. Friday, March 15. Both races will stream live on Peacock and IMSA.tv.