Brabham Beats Ragginger to Continue Perfect Qualifying Record at VIR

Matthew Brabham (No. 16 GYMWEED Ford Mustang) has continued his impeccable qualifying record in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli this weekend at VIRginia International Speedway, once again winning the pole for Sunday’s event – his 11th first-place starting spot in 11 events this year.

While Brabham’s championship rival, Paul Menard, has typically been the driver that the Indianapolis, Indiana-native has had to fend off for the pole, this weekend, the Chris Dyson Racing driver had a new challenger, as Martin Ragginger and Burtin Racing returned to the track.

Brabham’s lap of 1:42.714 was good enough to be quickest in the session, but only by less than a tenth of a second, as Ragginger (No. 7 TopLiner Chevrolet Camaro) posted a time of 1:42.811, showing this season’s championship leader that things may not be as easy when the green flag drops Sunday afternoon at VIR.

Paul Menard was third quickest of the eight drivers in the TA Class this weekend, about seven tenths of a second off the pole, while Tomy Drissi was fourth, and Chris Dyson, in a team car to Matthew Brabham, rounded out the top-five.

David Pintaric, Amy Ruman, and Jon DeGaynor will roll in sixth, seventh, and eighth.

TA Class Qualifying Results:

1. 1. #16 Matthew Brabham (1:42.714)
2. 2. #7 Martin Ragginger (1:42.811)
3. 3. #3 Paul Menard (1:43.405)
4. 4. #8 Tomy Drissi (1:45.075)
5. 5. #20 Chris Dyson (1:45.085)
6. 6. #57 David Pintaric (1:47.031)
7. 7. #23 Amy Ruman (1:47.173)
8. 8. #4 Jon DeGaynor (1:50.238)

Brent Goforth continued to show his raw pace advantage in Sunday’s qualifying session for the Trans Am Series by Pirelli, posting a qualifying time of 1:51.311 to claim the pole position in the GT1 Class over Ryan McManus, making a return to the series after several years away.

Goforth had a successful qualifying session on Sunday, picking up the pace by more than three seconds versus his fastest time in Saturday’s practice (1:54.263). Meanwhile, McManus was unable to improve his time from practice, creating a gap of nearly 5.2 seconds between first and second in qualifying.

GT1 Class Qualifying Results:

1. 1. #99 Brent Goforth (1:51.311)
2. 2. #07 Ryan McManus (1:56.593)

The SGT Class title fight is back in control of Chris Coffey (No. 97 Traffic Grafix / NAI Racing / GTE Engineering Ferrari 458 Challenge) after a stunning run in qualifying from VIRginia International Raceway that won him the pole by more than a second and a half.

Coffey, the championship leader, made a significant gain from practice (where he was third quickest of the SGT Class drivers) to qualifying, posting a lap time of 1:52.077, the fastest lap so far this weekend from anybody in the class.

Zach Arnold was second fastest in qualifying, with Austen Dinger (who was quickest in practice) sitting in third. Jesse Schmidt and three-time SGT Class winner at VIR, Lee Saunders, rounded out the top-five. Ray Mason, Dana Blackhurst, Tim Gray, and Milton Grant rounded out the nine-driver class.

SGT Class Qualifying Results:

1. 1. #97 Chris Coffey (1:52.077)
2. 2. #72 Zach Arnold (1:53.678)
3. 3. #88 Austen Dinger (1:53.708)
4. 4. #91 Jesse Schmidt (1:53.717)
5. 5. #84 Lee Saunders (1:53.879)
6. 6. #82 Ray Mason (1:58.288)
7. 7. #30 Dana Blackhurst (1:59.942)
8. 8. #60 Tim Gray (2:10.742)
9. 9. #15 Milton Grant (No Time)

Gavin Gleitsman is beginning to get comfortable in the GT Class in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli, and based on his qualifying time, it’s showing. Gleitsman, who runs full-time in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, picked up nearly two seconds from practice to qualifying to give him the pole in the GT Class over Brion Gluck, who almost made a substantial pickup between sessions.

Gluck managed to close the gap between first and second to 13 seconds, versus the nearly 15 seconds it was in Saturday’s practice.

GT Class Qualifying Results:

1. 1. #51 Gavin Gleitsman (1:59.824)
2. 2. #47 Brion Gluck (2:12.896)