McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris headlined a weekend packed with cars and stars at the fourth annual Velocity Invitational at Sonoma Raceway, November 10-12.
More than 20,000 people turned out over three days for the motorsports and lifestyle event, which featured an unparalleled lineup of the rarest cars in the world in the paddock and on the track, including modern hypercars, historic Formula 1 race cars, a Can-Am class, popular vintage racing groups, the Mustangs vs. Minis enduro.
Attendees were treated to a star-studded lineup of drivers from the McLaren Racing stable, including Norris, CEO Zak Brown, as well as Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, David Malukas and Tony Kanaan from the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team and NEOM McLaren Extreme E driver Tanner Foust. The drivers hit the track in the largest collection of heritage cars McLaren has ever run in the event. The iconic McLarens included Niki Lauda’s 1984 World Championship-winning MP4/2A-1, Lewis Hamilton’s MP4/23A-05, which he drove to fifth place in Brazil to win his first World Championship in 2008, and the MP4/6-10 that Ayrton Senna powered to his third and final World Championship, helping McLaren win their fourth consecutive Constructors’ Championship.
The event also featured the global unveil of McLaren’s new limited production “3-7-59” 750S, as well as the first public display of the new Ford GT Mk IV by Ford Performance and Multimatic, which also took to Sonoma Raceway’s 12-turn road course for demonstration laps.
The weekend highlighted racing in a variety of disciplines, including ride alongs for attendees and exhibition laps from the DirtFish Rally School by professional rally drivers Alister McRae, Max McRae and Benjamin Pedersen, as well as rally champion Brandon Semenuk, who showed off his skills in his Subaru 23r WRX Rally. On Saturday night, four winged Sprint Car drivers, including Chase Johnson, took to Turn 11 for a first-of-its-kind Sprint Car exhibition race inside the hairpin.
“This weekend was the embodiment of everything we dreamed the Velocity Invitational could be,” said Jeff O’Neill, founder of Velocity Invitational. “We are delighted to be back in Sonoma and deeply appreciate the car owners, sponsors and fans who helped make this weekend possible. We can’t wait to make it even bigger and better next year.”
Race results from the 10 race groups can be found at https://velocityinvitational.com/race-results/. For more information about Velocity Invitational or to stay up to date on next year’s event, visit velocityinvitational.com.
