Trans Am ready for Sebring debut with 72-car entry

When the green flag flies on Sunday, March 1, for the FOAMETIX Trans Am 100, 72 cars will take to the 3.74-mile road course at Sebring International Raceway, commencing the 2015 Trans Am Championship. In doing so, drivers and teams alike will set a new record entry not only as the largest field for the series in its revitalized format, but to ever compete in the Trans Am Series' 49-year history. In addition, the TA2 and TA3 class fields will feature record entries of their own, with 33 and 18 car fields, respectively, as the road racing renaissance that is the Trans Am Series kicks off the 2015 calendar year.

Sebring stands as the birthplace of Trans Am, the site of the very first Trans Am race in 1966. With that spotlight comes added pressure for defending class champions, all of whom will be participating in the season opener, ready to begin their title defense with a strong showing under the Florida sun.

For Doug Peterson, TA class Champion driver of the No. 87 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet Corvette, and Cameron Lawrence, reigning TA2 Champion and pilot of the No. 1 TI Automotive/ MOPAR Dodge Challenger, this will be their second title defense after successfully warding off all challengers to secure back-to-back Championships in 2014 for their respective classes. Now both will aim for a treble of consecutive championships, a feat only accomplished by Tommy Kendall ('95, '96, '97).

Likewise both Ernie Francis Jr., driver of the No. 98 Breathless Racing Chevrolet Camaro and TA3 American Muscle Champion, and Jason Berkeley, driver of the No. 67 BMG Management Chevrolet Corvette and TA3 International Champion, will also be in attendance defending their respective crowns.

Standing in the Champions' way will be not only greater numbers, but a higher level of competition than seen in Trans Am in recent memory. In the TA class, Peterson will be faced with a 21-car field consisting of perennial contenders like Simon Gregg, in the No. 59 Derhaag Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette; Amy Ruman, in the No. 23 McNichols Company Chevrolet Corvette; Cliff Ebben, in the No. 36 Stumpf Ford/ McMahon Group Ford Mustang; and Peterson's own teammate Paul Fix, in the No. 4 StopFlex.com/TheCarCoach.com Chevrolet Corvette. Also headlining the field will be Claudio Burtin, in the No. 7 Foametix Chevrolet Corvette, and RJ Lopez, behind the wheel of the No. 16 Optica Lopez Chevrolet Corvette. The only rookie competiting in the TA class this coming weeked will be Jospeh Freda, driving the No. 82 ERALab.com Chevrolet Corvette.

Lawrence will have the daunting task of fending off a 33-car TA2 field, the largest on record for a seemingly ever-growing class. Many veterans will make their return to the TA2 field, including 2014 runner-up and Rookie of the Year Adam Andretti, in the No. 44 ECC Engineered Components Chevrolet Camaro; long-time Trans Am competitor Tommy Archer, piloting the No. 49 Archer Racing/ TNM Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro; 2014 race winner Ron Keith, in the No. 25 Offsite Image Ford Mustang; two time TA class Champion Tony Ave, in the No. 70 Lamers Motor Racing Ford Mustang; as well as Kevin Poitras, in the No. 73 Post Plastics Ford Mustang.

TA2 will also be home to a vast rookie contingent, with 17 rookie drivers taking part in the TA2 class at Sebring. Leading those numbers are well-known names in the road racing community like Shane Lewis, in the No. 72 74 Ranch Resort Chevrolet Camaro; Lawrence Loshak, in the No. 5 ETE Reman/HYPERformance Ford Mustang; and Tony Buffomante, in the No. 34 Bestline Superior Lubricants Ford Mustang—all rookies to Trans Am, but veteran talents and commodities on the track. The combination of the rookie field and returning veterans should provide for a weekend of intrigue, as 2015 begins with plenty of talent on both sides to mix things up.

TA3 will have both subgroups, the International Group and the American Muscle Group, on display with a total of 18 participants in the production based class. Ernie Francis, Jr., and Jason Berkeley will be focused on defending their titles, front-runners Todd Napieralski, in the No. 39 Tremec/SKF/Backstreet Performance Chevrolet Camaro; Russ Snow, in the No. 20 Guardian Services/ AiM Sports Chevrolet Corvette; and Lee Saunders, driving the No. 84 Landsearch LLC Dodge Viper; all have the talent to stake their own claim on Trans Am silverware at the season opener.

Click here to view the full entry list.

In addition to the massive car counts and influx of driver talent across all three classes, the FOAMETIX Trans Am 100 will also mark the return of "Fast Five" Qualifying for Trans Am. The format will allow the top five drivers in each class to lock-in their positions after the first qualifying session, while still allowing other drivers the opportunity to improve their standing within the 72-car grid during a second session the following day.

The Trans Am field will first take to the on Friday, Feb. 27, for practice at 11:10 a.m. ET, followed by "Fast Five" qualifying later that day at 3:30 p.m. Trans Am action will continue on Saturday at 11:50 a.m., with a second practice session and an opportunity for drivers to re-qualify outside the "Fast Five." On Sunday, the green flag will fly on the FOAMETIX Trans Am 100.

The FOAMETIX Trans Am 100 will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday, March 17 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Fans can keep up with the action throughout the weekend using Live Timing and Scoring at http://gotransam.com/live-timing ,Twitter at @gotransam and www.facebook.com/gotransam .