Sonoma’s road course goes quiet on Thursday nights. Maintenance crews finish, the surrounding hills exhale, and the only sound is wind through eucalyptus. By Friday morning it will not be quiet again until Memorial Day evening.
I will be in the paddock with press credentials for all three days of the 2026 Velocity Invitational, and what’s about to fire up over there has changed enough from last year to warrant a fresh look. The venue is new. The headliner roster is new. The Friday night programming is new. And the format that earned Velocity its “American Goodwood” nickname from Motor1 last year is now backed by Goodwood itself, which licenses the Velocity livestream as part of its own broadcast.
Key Takeaways
- Dates: May 29 to 31, 2026 at Sonoma Raceway, 29355 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, CA. Gate 1 is the main entrance.
- GA pricing: $159 Friday, $199 Saturday or Sunday, $249 full weekend. Pre-sale rates run lower. Kids 15 and under are $5 with a paid adult.
- 2026 headliners: Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull F1) Saturday, Lia Block (rally) Sunday, Sung Kang (DRIFTER, Fast & Furious) Friday.
- Friday Night Meet: Sung Kang’s AE86 Trueno on display, a DRIFTER film preview with Q&A, and Hagerty photographer Larry Chen co-hosting. Included in any Friday GA ticket.
- Saturday Sonoma Room is sold out. The Forum at Turn 1 still has Sunday wine-tasting passes at $219.
- Bring: ear protection, a jacket, closed-toed shoes. Outside food and drink are not permitted in the paddock.
What’s Running at Sonoma
The lineup spans more than seventy years of motorsport. Historic groups cover 1950s and 1960s sports and GT cars, Le Mans prototypes, Formula 1, NASCAR, World Rally Championship cars, and Formula DRIFT machinery. New for 2026: a Porsche Sprint Challenge race added to the card, current championship metal that runs alongside the vintage groups without pretending to be from the same era.
The marque focus this year leans Ferrari, Shelby, Porsche, and RUF. Period-correct examples of each will run in their respective groups, then return to the paddock where you can walk up and read the build dates off the chassis plates…