Matthew Brabham Returns to Road Atlanta Winner's Circle

For the second year in a row, Matthew Brabham is victorious at Road Atlanta in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli.

Brabham scored the victory from the pole in his No. 16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang, leading from flag to flag and crossing the finish line ahead of Paul Menard.

With the 40-lap race featuring everything from a drizzling rain to full-course yellow flags, Brabham felt pressure from Menard throughout the entirety of the contest, with a margin of victory of just 0.806 seconds.

One year ago, Brabham won the Trans Am Series event at Road Atlanta, substituting for Chris Dyson in the GYM WEED Mustang, one of three victories in five Trans Am starts in 2025. Brabham is committed to a full-time championship chase in 2026 after competing for CD Racing on an as-needed basis from 2021 to 2025.

With Brabham and Menard also finishing first and second at the season opener at Sebring International Raceway earlier this month, the stage appears set for a fierce championship battle between the two drivers.

"A fantastic race, that was so much fun," said Brabham in victory lane. "There was weather, battles behind me. I've got to go back and watch on the live stream again. Paul was right there, pushing me the whole time.

"Those guys at 3GT are getting better and better every week. It's going to give us a tough run for the championship. I'm looking forward to the fight. It's been a lot of fun so far, and it's going to be more fun."

While Menard believes they closed the gap on Brabham between Sebring and Road Atlanta, the 2025 Trans Am Series champion will be chasing his first win of 2026 when the series goes to Sonoma Raceway in April.

"He's fast, man," admitted Menard. "My car was really good. The guys put in a lot of work this weekend to hone it down and find a little bit of speed and drivability. They did that, man. My car is really good.

"Just kind of the same thing as Sebring. There's just a couple of spots where he can just really yard me, and we try to play to catchup. On to Sonoma. It's going to be a good track for us. We had a good car last year."

Tomy Drissi finished third, passing Adam Andretti through turns 11 and 12 with four laps to go to land on the final step of the podium in his No. 8 Trench Shoring Chevrolet Camaro, with Andretti crossing the line fourth.

"First off, my hats off to Andretti," said Drissi. "That car was trying to kill him all weekend, for him to go as fast as he was. We had a great race, planned for the fans to have a good show.

"What a great race, Andretti. That was a great fight that I'll never forget."

Jim Guthrie finished fifth overall and scored the victory in the TA Cup class after a spirited battle with Cole Moore. Guthrie piloted the No. 62 Guthrie's Garage Ford Mustang to the top of the TA Cup leaderboard, passing Moore for the final time with five laps to go.

"I tell you what, Cole made it tough," said Guthrie. "It was fun. It was a lot of fun. That was the most fun I've had racing in a while.

"He was a little slower in between 11 and 12 than I was, but he was getting off five better than I was. I just had to get him when he was weak and stay ahead."

Moore couldn't help but feel the sting of disappointment after finishing second, but still enjoyed the battle for the TA Cup win.

"I'm not upset, I'm super happy to be here," said Moore. "To lead all those laps and to have Jim get me, it's a tough one to swallow, you know. That was some of the best racing you could possibly have, back and forth, crossovers, the whole nine.

"I hope the cameras were on us, it was unbelievable. I don't think we ever touched. A little disappointed, but overall, I'm just stoked to be out here at Road Atlanta."

Jordan Bupp claimed the victory in GT1, finishing 10th overall in the No. 11 HamiltonSafe&SecuritySystems Chevrolet Camaro. Bupp now has back-to-back wins after winning the opening round at Sebring, but faced pressure from a new challenger in Brent Goforth's No. 98 Big Dog Racing Chevrolet Camaro at Road Atlanta. Goforth purchased the Camaro just eight days before Sunday's race at Road Atlanta.

"Brent did a great job, in his first race here this weekend," said Bupp. "A little adversity, lost a motor in testing. Thanks to Brent and his team, we got it together."

Billy Griffin won the XGT division on an adventurous day, surviving an off-track excursion in turn 10 on lap 17 and getting back on track.

"We had a lot of fun," said Griffin. "I was having a great time with Kaylee [Bryson], Jordan [Bupp] and the young man in the orange car [Cole Moore]. Great battle, it was so much fun.

"We got down into 10 in a train, and I got tapped in the butt a little bit and it spun me around. Kind of ruined my fun on the afternoon.On the restart, I pulled in, let everybody go play the race, and I went down and laid a flyer down and rolled out a [1 minute,] 22 [second] lap. I was happy with that.

Chris Coffey stood victorious in the SGT classification in his No. 97 Traffic Grafix/NAI Racing/GTE Engineering Ferrari 458 Challenge. The top three finishers in SGT were separated by just 6.5 seconds at the end of 40 laps.

"It was a great race. Everybody was really respectful out there," said Coffey. "There wasn't any troubles or anything like that. I just really appreciate these guys, everything that the Trans Am series does, and my crew."

Derric Carter lifted the GT trophy, although some mechanical issues late in the race made him happy to see through the end of the race and take the checkered flag in the No. 24 PortableHeist.com Ford Mustang GT 500.

"I'm just happy to be here," Carter said. "It's been a year's worth of work trying to figure out how to make a GT 500 compete in a 100-mile race. I"m just happy to be out here. Aspirations are to move up to SGT at some point in time. I wanted to see what I could come out here and do with these guys. These guys just run hard for the full 70 minutes.

"I had some mechanical issues right there at the very end with the restart. I was looking at my temps, getting up to 350 [degrees] for my oil, and I was like, I'm gonna finish her, she's going to blow. Fortunately, we were able to get it done at least."

A doubleheader weekend awaits Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli competitors on April 23-26 at Sonoma Raceway. The TA, TAC and GT classes will contest 40-lap races on both Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26 at the California facility.

Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli Results - Road Atlanta