TPC Racing and the DART Car Project McLaren Team Finish Fourth in Pirelli GT4 America Debut in Sonoma

– Zoë Barry and Aurora Straus Improve Five Positions from Qualifying to Score Solid Fourth-Place Finish in the Debut of the No. 44 DART Car/TPC Racing McLaren Artura GT4 in the SRO Pirelli GT4 America Series

SONOMA, California (March 30, 2025) – TPC Racing and the Driven Artists Racing Team (DART Car) scored a fourth-place finish Saturday in the debut race for the No. 44 DART Car/TPC Racing McLaren Artura GT4 in SRO Pirelli GT4 America competition at Sonoma Raceway. Starting ninth in the “Am” division in the packed 31-car field, team drivers Zoë Barry and Aurora Straus improved a class-high five race positions in the one-hour race to secure the solid fourth-place showing.

The promising result came in the first major professional race for Barry and the first on-track competition ever for the DART Car Project, which is a female-led, mission-driven motorsports program with the purpose of elevating the achievements of women in the traditionally male-dominated fields of motorsports and fine art.

DART Car launched this weekend at Sonoma with an inaugural commission by acclaimed contemporary artist Mickalene Thomas, who created a custom livery for the team’s McLaren as well as one-of-a-kind driving suits and hand-painted helmets for Straus and Barry. Both the DART Car McLaren and accompanying helmets and driver suits by Thomas will be auctioned later in the season to raise funds to continue the team’s mission of growing the number of under-represented artists and drivers in both motorsports and fine arts.

Barry started Saturday’s one-hour sprint race and did a masterful job of avoiding the numerous contact incidents and off-course excursions that sidelined several GT4 competitors in the opening minutes of the race. Maintaining focus despite running more laps under caution than in the faster green flag conditions, Barry moved up to sixth in the Am class and cracked the top-20 overall less than 15 minutes into the race. She pitted to hand the McLaren off to Straus with just under 33 minutes remaining.

After a top pit stop by the TPC Racing team, Straus returned to the race fifth in Am and in the top 20 overall and took advantage of the race’s first periods of green flag racing to continue to advance in the running order. The McLaren moved to fourth in Am and 17th overall with less than two minutes remaining, and Straus took the checkered flag a lap later to seal the lead lap finish and overall solid debut for the TPC Racing/DART Car team. Straus kept the pressure on the third place competitor until the end, with the No. 44 missing the podium by a scant 0.404 of a second.

Next up for the No. 44 DART Car/TPC Racing McLaren Artura GT4 team is the Pirelli GT4 America doubleheader race weekend at Sebring International Raceway, May 16 – 18.

Harris Levitas, TPC Racing Director of Race Operations: “The TPC Racing DART Car McLaren Artura GT4 was very strong this weekend. We had a great effort. We didn’t quite have the same BoP (Balance of Performance) advantage of the car ahead of us for third place, but we pressured to the end and we’ll take what we can get. Every track is different for every manufacturer. The McLaren Artura GT4 is a really great platform. We’re super excited to be racing that car this year in Pirelli GT4 America. The TPC Racing team did an incredible job this week. They put together a very competitive car for Zoë and Aurora, and they both drove extremely well. Zoë kept it really clean. Aurora got in and we had a clean pit stop with no penalties or delays. This series really puts you in the thick of things, but the team and drivers really knocked it out of the park and delivered a great result for our first race with the McLaren Artura GT4.”

Zoë Barry, Driver – No. 44 DART Car/TPC Racing McLaren Artura GT4: “First of all, sometimes the idea is to just to keep it clean and follow the rules. We had a really great pit stop. I think 90 seconds exactly, and we practiced that maybe 100 times in the freezing rain. That makes you perform well. Getting through the start, there was absolute carnage. My car did what I needed it to do, so thank you to McLaren. It accelerated when I needed it to accelerate, it turned when I needed it to turn, it stopped when I needed it to stop. It was a fantastic car with a great setup from TPC Racing. I couldn’t be prouder. The whole goal is to get more girls into karting, get more women behind the wheel. You can even have a career change and go after your dream. I just turned 40 and did just that. We hope this gets other people behind the wheel, and we certainly want to raise awareness for Mickalene Thomas. Hopefully there’s a new collector for her out there now.”

Aurora Straus, Driver – No. 44 DART Car/TPC Racing McLaren Artura GT4: “I couldn’t be happier. On behalf of TPC Racing and the Driven Artists Racing Team, I think Zoë had a stellar performance. I can’t imagine a better pro racing debut. She had her work cut out for them going into the race, going from the back of the pack in a hyper-competitive 31-car field, but she stepped right up to the challenge. She kept the car clean, which is her primary job as the first driver, and at the end of the day I think we represented DART Car very well. I think we represented Mickalene Thomas well, and I think we represented McLaren and the TPC Racing team well. We’ve been working closely all weekend with Harris and the crew at TPC Racing and the folks at McLaren to make sure the Artura GT4 was as competitive as possible. Top 5 in GT4 America is no easy feat, so you need every edge you can possibly get. The car performed flawlessly. I couldn’t be more grateful for the team.”

About Driven Artists Racing Team (DART Car): DART Car is a women-led, professional motorsports team partnering with contemporary female artists to design and race high-performance art cars in the world’s most prestigious auto events to standout at the highest levels of autosport competition. DART Car is comprised of fierce motorsport competitors and passionate advocates for female trailblazers. Together, with likeminded partners and sponsors, DART Car engages a global enthusiast audience in the excitement of autosport, while celebrating female achievement across the visual arts and athletics. For more information on DART Car, please visit http://www.DartCarProject.com.

About TPC Racing: TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sports cars. TPC Racing specializes in R&D and sales of high-performance modifications for Porsche sports cars and race cars, offering a wide range of vehicle upgrades. Best known for a line of forced induction solutions for the Porsche 911, Cayman and Boxster, a long-time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled TPC Racing to become experts in Porsche service, tuning, and racing. In 2000, TPC Racing began entering races under its own banner, scoring an SGS-class Championship in 2004 in the Grand-American Rolex Series and was a class winner in the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona, and captured the 2013 and 2016 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold Cup Championships. More information can be found at http://www.TPCRacing.com.