Matthew Brabham Dominates Sunday’s TA Race to Sweep Watkins Glen Doubleheader

This season, the Trans Am Series by Pirelli has hosted a pair of doubleheaders – one at Sonoma, and one this weekend at Watkins Glen – and after a dominant victory on Sunday, Matthew Brabham, driving the No. 16 Gym Soda Ford Mustang for Chris Dyson Racing, has swept them both.

A native of Boca Raton, Florida, Brabham picked up his 16th career victory in the Trans Am Series by Pirelli’s TA Class, moving him into a tie for 13th on the all-time wins list in the division, matching Tony Ave and Amy Ruman – eight of those victories have come in 2026.

Brabham has started from the pole position in every single TA Class event in 2026, and that continued with Sunday’s event, after posting the fastest lap of the race in Saturday’s first 30-lapper of the weekend at Watkins Glen International.

The Chris Dyson Racing got an early lead in Sunday’s 30-lap contest, and was kept honest by his closest adversary, Paul Menard, until Lap 11, when the No. 3 Pittsburgh Paints / Menards Ford Mustang had a flat left-front tire and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop, dropping him more than a minute behind the race-leader.

For the final two-thirds of the event, Brabham appeared to take it easy with his Gym Soda-sponsored machine, just managing the gap he had built over his Chris Dyson Racing teammate (and team owner), Chris Dyson, who managed to bring it home in second, 7.597 seconds behind the eventual winner.

It’s the first 1-2 finish for Chris Dyson Racing since last June at Road America – with Dyson and Brabham reversing positions from the final result of Sunday’s event at Watkins Glen.

“Couldn’t get any better, awesome result for the team,” said Matthew Brabham post-race. “It’s great to have Chris [Dyson] back racing with us and have a 1-2 for the Chris Dyson Racing boys and girls, it’s been an awesome year, but we owe it to the crew and all the hard work. It looks easy on track for us, but there’s a lot of hard work and a big hat off to all the other guys on the team. What a dream run.”

Paul Menard, after suffering a flat left-front tire, used the last 20 laps of the event to try and recuperate as much track position and time on the racetrack as possible, closing the gap down to 23.172 seconds at the checkered flag – from a gap that registered over one minute after he exited the pit lane.

David Pintaric, Tomy Drissi, and Jon DeGaynor finished fourth, fifth, and sixth. Amy Ruman finished seventh in-class and 12th overall, after suffering some kind of mechanical issue during the race, which forced an unscheduled pit stop while the No. 23 McNichols Chevrolet Corvette was running top-five.

Trans Am Series by Pirelli – TA Class Results:

1. #16 Matthew Brabham
2. #20 Chris Dyson
3. #3 Paul Menard
4. #57 David Pintaric
5. #8 Tomy Drissi
6. #4 Jon DeGaynor
7. #23 Amy Ruman

Matthew Brabham wasn’t the only driver to sweep the weekend at Watkins Glen International.

Zach Arnold, driving the No. 72 Arnold Machine Porsche GT3 Cup, took the victory in the second leg of the Trans Am Series’ Watkins Glen doubleheader, but this time, things were much, much less chaotic. Arnold kept his No. 72 on the racetrack for all 30 laps on Sunday, and that was enough to get him the victory in the SGT Class, after his closest competitor, Chris Coffey, had to make multiple unscheduled pit stops for flat tires.

“Definitely more straightforward today,” said Arnold. “We had a good day yesterday, the team made a great call on pit lane to get us out on dry tires before everyone else, and today, just drove the wheels off of it, kept it clean, but yeah, it was definitely a good weekend for us. Thanks to the team and everyone else.”

Coffey finished in second-place, two laps behind Arnold. Milton Grant was third in-class, and the fourth entrant this weekend in-class, Jesse Schmidt, didn’t start Sunday’s event after crashing pretty substantially in Saturday’s event.

Trans Am Series by Pirelli – SGT Class Results:

1. #72 Zach Arnold
2. #97 Chris Coffey
3. #15 Milton Grant
4. #91 Jesse Schmidt (DNS)

Derric Carter returned to the top step of the podium in Sunday’s Trans Am Series by Pirelli event GT Class at Watkins Glen International, after he managed to get his No. 24 PortableHoist.com Ford Mustang GT 500 back on the racetrack late in the race and make some laps.

While that might seem inconsequential, his competitor this weekend in the GT Class, Michael Saia, also had some major problems that sent the No. 13 KMC / Motul / Rapid Wraps / Rapid Performance Porsche 997.1 GT3 Cup to pit road while the team tried to fix the car.

Carter finished the race a whopping 20 laps down but still managed to beat Saia by three laps.

It may not have been pretty, but the Trans Am Series by Pirelli point standings will still show Sunday’s event as a victory for the GT Class championship leader, and that’s all that matters.

Trans Am Series by Pirelli – GT Class Results:

1. #24 Derric Carter
2. #13 Michael Saia

-Photo credit: Chris Clark Photography