Brabham Continues Hot Start with Pole for First Leg of Sonoma Doubleheader

Matthew Brabham (No. 16 Gymweed Ford Mustang) and Paul Menard (No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang) have spent the opening two rounds of the Trans Am Series by Pirelli campaign fighting tooth-and-nail for supremacy in the TA Class.

For this weekend’s doubleheader at Sonoma Raceway, though, Brabham and Menard have a brand-new challenger, though, in the form of Rafa Matos (No. 20 RACER / Gym Soda Ford Mustang), piloting a second entry for Chris Dyson Racing.

Granted, for the time being, Brabham, who topped the podium in the opening two rounds of the Trans Am Series by Pirelli campaign at Sebring and Road Atlanta, remains on top, winning the pole for Saturday’s first leg of the Sonoma doubleheader.

Posting a lap time of 1:27.777, Brabham collected his second pole position of 2026 (and his third first-place starting spot). The Boca Raton, Florida native has now started from the top spot in five of his last six events in the TA Class.

Rafa Matos, jumping into the TA Class this weekend in the No. 20, was second-quickest in time trials for Saturday’s event, narrowly beating out class regular Paul Menard, who was third-quickest in the session. The top three drivers were only separated by a little over two-tenths of a second.

Tomy Drissi ranked fourth in qualifying with Simon Gregg in fifth. David Pintaric will start shotgun on the six-driver TA Class on Saturday.

TA CLASS QUALIFYING TOP FIVE:

1. #16 Matthew Brabham – Gymweed Ford Mustang (1:27.777)
2. #20 Rafa Matos – RACER / Gym Soda Ford Mustang (1:27.968)
3. #3 Paul Menard – Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang (1:27.989)
4. #8 Tomy Drissi – Trench Shoring Chevrolet Camaro (1:30.917)
5. #59 Simon Gregg – Trench Shoring Chevrolet Camaro (1:35.347)

TA CLASS PRACTICE TOP FIVE:

1. #3 Paul Menard – Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang (1:28.936)
2. #16 Matthew Brabham – Gymweed Ford Mustang (1:28.999)
3. #20 Rafa Matos – RACER / Gym Soda Ford Mustang (1:29.686)
4. #8 Tomy Drissi – Trench Shoring Chevrolet Camaro (1:30.917)
5. #57 David Pintaric – Birds Eye View Project / Kryde Racing Ford Mustang (1:32.683)

Utilizing a recent burst of momentum gained by being the defending race-winner in the Trans Am by Pirelli’s TA Cup Class, Jim Guthrie (No. 62 Guthrie’s Garage Ford Mustang) soared to the top of the speed charts and captured the pole position for Saturday’s first leg of the Sonoma doubleheader.

Posting a lap time of 1:32.075, Guthrie was able to narrowly edge out Phil Fogg, Jr. (No. 67 Chris Evans Race Cars Ford Mustang) to secure himself the pole position by the narrowest of margins, 0.080 seconds.

West Coast Championship driver John Moore (No. 27 JM Environmental / JM Racing Ford Mustang) put together a strong lap time in Friday’s session to earn a third-place starting spot, with Ken Thwaits (No. 9 Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro) in fourth and Aaron Young (No. 08 ProFinish Motorsports Ford Mustang) in fifth.

Cole Moore (No. 99 JM Environmental / Moore Motorsport Ford Mustang) will be credited with a sixth-place starting spot in the nine-driver TA Cup Class this weekend at Sonoma. Moore is the division’s points leader and enters this weekend’s doubleheader in a different car than usual – typically piloting the orange No. 32 for Chris Evans Race Cars.

TA CUP CLASS QUALIFYING TOP 5

1. #62 Jim Guthrie – Guthrie’s Garage Ford Mustang (1:32.075)
2. #67 Phil Fogg, Jr. – Chris Evans Race Cars Ford Mustang (1:32.155)
3. #27 John Moore – JM Environmental / JM Racing Ford Mustang (1:33.075)
4. #9 Ken Thwaits – Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro (1:33.139)
5. #08 Aaron Young – ProFinish Motorsports Ford Mustang (1:34.896)

TA CUP CLASS PRACTICE TOP 5

1. #62 Jim Guthrie – Guthrie’s Garage Ford Mustang (1:32.211)
2. #67 Phil Fogg, Jr. – Chris Evans Race Cars Ford Mustang (1:32.747)
3. #27 John Moore – JM Environmental / JM Racing Ford Mustang (1:33.196)
4. #99 Cole Moore – JM Environmental / Moore Motorsport Ford Mustang (1:33.815)
5. #9 Ken Thwaits – Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro (1:34.874)

This weekend at Sonoma, the SGT Class is a little bit smaller than usual, but that hasn’t stopped Chris Coffey (No. 97 Traffic Grafix / NAI Racing / GTE Eng Ferrari 458 Challenge) from topping the speed charts.

Coffey picked up more than a tenth of a second from practice to qualifying, in the process collecting the pole position for Saturday’s first leg of the weekend doubleheader in Sonoma, California. Patrick Utt (No. 49 RaceQuip / Driven Racing Oil Chevrolet Camaro) did not post a time in qualifying.

SGT CLASS QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. #97 Chris Coffey – Traffic Grafix / NAI Racing / GTE Eng Ferrari 458 Challenge (1:36.504)
2. #49 Patrick Utt – RaceQuip / Driven Racing Oil Chevrolet Camaro (No Time)

SGT CLASS PRACTICE RESULTS

1. #97 Chris Coffey – Traffic Grafix / NAI Racing / GTE Eng Ferrari 458 Challenge (1:36.694)
2. #49 Patrick Utt – RaceQuip / Driven Racing Oil Chevrolet Camaro (1:41.406)

The Trans Am Series by Pirelli TA, TA Cup, and SGT Classes will race twice this weekend at Sonoma Raceway, once on Saturday (April 25) at 9:45 AM Local Time (12:45 PM ET), and again on Sunday (April 26) at 10:45 AM Local Time (1:45 PM ET). Coverage of the events will be on RacingAmerica.TV, the Racing America 24/7 Channel, and the Trans Am Series YouTube Channel.

The Racing America 24/7 Streaming Channel is available on The Roku Channel, Prime Video, My Free DirecTV, LG Channels, and PLEX. REVTV will serve as the official broadcast partner of Trans Am in Canada.

-Photo credit: Chris Clark Photography